United States Foreign Policy and Greece

Table of Contents Introduction Economic Cooperation Diplomatic Relations Military Instruments Cultural and Psychological Relations Conclusion Cited Introduction Foreign refers to the external environment of the state. Policy is a course of action that a state or an organization intends to do. Foreign policy is concerned with instruments applied in interacting with other states. They include the guideline and strategies meant to achieve the interests of a state externally.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on United States Foreign Policy and Greece specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Policies made should be goal oriented; they aim for something positive especially in matters of national security. Instruments applied can be diplomatic, economic, cultural or military. Diplomatic instruments consist of recognition and withdrawal of recognition, recalling of ambassadors, establishing diplomatic offices, applying travel bans, state visits and invitation of state visits. Economic instruments pertain to foreign aid, slapping of economic sanctions, trade agreements and trade boycotts. The state can as well apply military instruments such as engaging in war, forming military alliances and offering military assistance. Psycho-cultural instruments relate to mass media (print and broadcast), academic scholarships such as Fulbright, cultural visit exchange and establishment of cultural centers. Foreign policy instruments determine the privilege a country gets from other powerful states. This paper examines the instruments in relation to the foreign policy of United States and Greece. Economic Cooperation In February 1950, the government of the United States signed a protocol at Athens Greece. The agreement was meant to strengthen foreign relations between the two states. The convention had clear objectives that aimed at achieving greatness for the two states. Greece was not to be taxed heavily; it w as to enjoy preferential treatment. Small businesses were not being taxed hence encouraging competition between Greek and American companies in the United States. The two states enjoy mutual relations as far as trade is concerned. Greece is strategically positioned in that most of oil from Middle East passes through it. The oil reaches Europe and the United States from Caspian Basin through Greece. The establishment of regional energy project called ITGI (Interconnector Turkey-Greece-Italy) strengthened economic relations between Greece and other states-United states included. The Greek port of Alexandroupolis located along the coastline of Aegean is strategic to the United States because it serves as a route for oil movement from Middle East to other parts of Europe (Dimitrios 35).Advertising Looking for research paper on international relations? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The United States co-opts Greece and Turkey in a ccomplishing its economic interests in Middle East. Greece cooperated with the United States in 1990-91 Persian Gulf War. Economic interests in the war drove them both. Before 1990, Greece was a major beneficiary of the United States foreign Aid. It received funding in infrastructure development such as expansion of ports for import/exports development, hydroelectric power complexes for electricity generation and social amenities. The two partners have slapped economic sanctions to non-compliant states occasionally. Diplomatic Relations The United States have been proposing strong relations among states especially those around Middle East. Greece has been holding peace talks and has gone ahead to sign defense cooperation with Arabic states on behalf of the United States. Greece becomes strategic in relation to American fight against terrorism. The interests of Americans in Palestinian-Israeli conflict are well catered for by Greece in recent years. The Greek leaders have been hostin g meetings between Israel and Palestine. Greece of late has changed its stand in the longest conflict between Palestine and Israel. The improved relations between Israel and Greece are because of diplomatic cooperation between United States and Greece. Israeli leader Moshe Katsav in 2006 for the first time visited Greece leading to exchange of state visits between the leaders. The Greek government is always in solidarity with the United States in times of need. It ends up recalling high commissioners and ambassadors to slot in compliance from uncooperative states. The two partners in the international system enforce policies in solidarity with each other. The United States withdraws recognition for leaders perceived to be interfering with Greek interests. The two states relate well because of the large Greek population in the United States. The Greek population in the United States influences the government to make sound foreign policies to Greece. The American government has establ ished diplomatic offices in places perceived to be with Greek population such as South Africa.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on United States Foreign Policy and Greece specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The United States delegation on various occasions has been invited to Greece. The leaders review agreements made and projects jointly funded by the two governments. The Greek government assisted the United States in mediating the conflicts between Russia and Georgia. Greece collaborates with the United States in cooling down the temperatures in Middle East that causes migration. It further offers humanitarian assistance to the Muslim States. It also assisted the United States in bring integration among Balkans and pressuring Turkey in accession to European Union. Military Instruments The U.S and Greece began cooperating a long time ago with the initial pact being signed in 1953. The major operation today is centered on the navy. The U.S. runs a military base at deep-water port. In addition, the country operates the Sounda bay airfield to support Greece. The Greek government in return receives a huge military assistance in terms of both resources and technology. The United States government offers modern military skills to Greek soldiers and security personnel (Paterson Clifford and Maddock 378). The Greek government upholds the tenets of capitalism and United States ideas of democracy by intervening militarily to restore democracy in unstable states such as Kosovo. The government of Greece is a great supporter of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In 2003, NATO was in charge of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), majority of the peace keepers were Greek. The Greeks contributed a lot of money to Afghanistan development and humanitarian aid. Through Greek participation in NATO, the Balkans has had relief in socio-political and economic organizations. Greece led the N ATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) in Bosnia, which brought normalcy and democracy among Balkans. Greece is full of zip for NATO’S ocean shield counter-piracy operation that serves to offer security to World Food Program bonded and mercantile yachts off the coast of Somalia. Greece has been leading a European Union’s Atalanta counter-piracy mission.Advertising Looking for research paper on international relations? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The United States’ naval backup at Sounda Bay on Crete islands facilitates maneuvers and logistical support to European Command (EUCOM), Central command (CENTCOM). The NATO forces participate in military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Balkan states and the Middle East, all of which are facilitated by Greece (Economides 472). Cultural and Psychological Relations The voice of America is one of the major foreign media in Greece. It is in charge of dispensing American values to the people of Greece. People change their perceptions about the Americans and their culture. Both states have cultural centers in ether America or Greece. The centers educate citizens on the importance of cooperation in the international system. The United States with its Fulbright scholarship program has been able to influence the relations between the two states. Scholars from Greece get opportunities in the United States. Courses in Greek are offered in various American institutions. Conclusion Greece is very strategic to the United States hence the government should always maintain good relations with Greece. Most of oil from Middle East passes from the coastline of Greece. The United states government needs to ensure that Greece is secure, political events should be monitored carefully in Greece to maintain peace. Terrorists should not be allowed to take over the state since it will complicate world peace. The government of America should therefore continue providing opportunities and technical support to Greeks. Greece is very vital as far as Middle East is concerned. Military operations in the region depend on Sounda bay military base. The rest of states around the region are hostile to the government of the United States. The war in Iraq could not have materialized without the assistance of Greece. The fight against anti-democracy in Bosnia and Yugoslavia relied heavily on Greece. Greeks provided enough conventional forces that countered dictatorial rule in Bosnia. It also played a critical role I uniting the trouble causing community of Balkan. The United Sates would not achieve its interests in the Middle East without the support of Greece. As the situation stands, there is a thaw in relations between Greece and United States. This has led to dà ©tente relations between Greece and Canada. Cited Dimitrios, Lucas. Greece’s Shifting Position on Turkish Accession to the EU: before and after Helsinki. Saarbrucken: VDM Verlag. 1999. Economides, Spyros. The Europeanisation of Greek Foreign Policy. West European Politics, 28.2 2005: 471–491. Paterson, Thomas, Clifford, Gary and Maddock Shane. American foreign relations: A history, to 1920, Volume 1. Florence, KY: Cengage learning. 2009. This research paper on United States Foreign Policy and Greece was written and submitted by user Aliza N. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

11 Questions to Ask Yourself to Create Meaningful Work

11 Questions to Ask Yourself to Create Meaningful Work As you conduct your job search, are you clear about what type of work will be most meaningful for you while also meeting your financial requirements?   How about how the other aspects of your life impact your job search?   If you are looking for truly fulfilling work, you might benefit from the following exercise, offered by women’s life coach Britt Bolnick (www.InArmsCoaching.com ).   Answering some of her suggested questions will help you gain clarity about where you are and what you need. Note:   Some of you may remember my article, Top 10 Questions NOT to ask Yourself in Your Job Search. That advice still holds. If you are doing it alone, get some support! Britt reminds us, â€Å"You can create work and life situations that work FOR you, instead of trying to fit yourself into work that you feel you HAVE to be doing.† This message is a great one to remember. Here’s Britt’s exercise to get you thinking about what YOU want: Write down the following 11 (or more) items regarding what you’re looking for in your work situation. what you want the hours to be what kind of responsibilities you enjoy what you want your advancement opportunities to be what kind of money you want to be making (think BIG!) what types of benefits you’re looking for what kind of work environment you work best in (on your own, as part of a team, outdoors, in a structured office environment, etc.) how you want to feel in the work environment (challenged, appreciated, mentally or physically stimulated, etc.) how you want to feel in the morning when you wake up for work how you want to feel at the end of the day what kind of commute you want what type of people you want to work with Keep in mind: Knowing what you want makes it a lot more likely that you’ll find it! Britt is offering a two-month online group coaching opportunity, Your Manifesting Abundance Program (Your MAP), for women who want to cause a change in their work or life situations.   This program will help you as you step towards creating what you truly want in your life and identify the things that have been standing in your way.   And you will learn how to manage your time and energy in the process! This group starts Wednesday May 18th. If you’re interested in learning more, go to: Your Manifesting Abundance Program Category:Job SearchBy Brenda BernsteinMay 9, 2011

Rise and Fall of Enron Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Rise and Fall of Enron - Research Paper Example Enron was an energy company that had the marketing of electricity and natural gas as its main activities.  Its’ revenues in 2000 were (supposedly) of $ 100 billion and the market value of the company exceeded $ 60 billion, which meant 70 times earnings and six times book value (Thomas, pp.41).  The company benefited from the deregulation of the energy market, facilitated by the company's own lobby in donations to political campaigns, but without the use of accounting gimmicks and management practices suspicions never had reached this level. Enron collapsed taking along with itself pension funds of its employees and other investors in the same category, a shortfall of at least $ 1.5 billion and dragging a debt of more than $ 13 billion.  For years, the company's directors maligned balance sheets, wiped the losses and inflated profits.  The magic book worked until the end of 2001.  Enron is the product of stunning deregulation of the energy sector.  It was a success and everyone wanted to invest in its actions as it was an excellent company with a higher rate of return, their investment valued up every month, even in times of crisis. The stock prices fell from a record high of $90 in 2000 to $0.60 at the end of 2001, after the scandal was revealed (Bratton, pp.1275). Trade operations of the company were based on complex financial transactions, most referring to businesses that would occur several years later, a practice that inflated their profits.  Operators placed the value of the company's shares way high, suggesting that before these future actions would even appreciate, without having to justify the markdown price, was the mark-to-market. Mark-to-market means considering a company’s assets so highly valued that it is possible to liquidate them at any time by the current market price.  The actions came to be worth about $ 85, behind the scenes; however, the company could only lose on failed projects internet and plants that never operated in India (Thomas, pp.50).   There is evidence that senior company executives were also involved in the fraud, as well as major banks.   The Securities and Exchange Commission initiated an investigation.  Enron was forced to redo their balance sheets for the last five years and admit that its profit in the period was $ 600 million lower than originally reported (Thomas, pp.44).   Auditors Fabricating the Facts The company’s auditor was Arthur Andersen, one of the key executives of the company, which contributed to concealing the scam, while, manipulating the revenue recognition principles.  Since being involved with the collapse of Enron, Andersen lost many prestigious clients. The company's employees took damage by losing their jobs; their savings in most cases were invested in Enron stock (Thomas, pp.46).  The tragic end of Enron shook the confidence of the American financial system.  According to the lawsuit filed by former shareholders, Enron hid th e injury and decreasing profits with the connivance of accounting firm, Arthur Andersen auditor (Healy & Palepu, pp.12).  Former Enron auditor approved fraudulent accounting practices and illegal schemes adopted to hide losses and then destroyed the evidence of the crime.   Involvement of White House   Enron was regarded as an innovator, admired (elected between 1996 and 2001 as one of the most admired companies according to  Fortune  magazine) and dynamic, and Kenneth Lay was a celebrity worlds of business (something that is not seen much in the post

Letter of Transmittal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Letter of Transmittal - Essay Example We are seeking a position as a Student Counselor. Unlike many other counseling institutions, we have a real world experience in the field of education. Our strong desire to help young people with their academic, personal, and social needs coupled with what we have learned from working with youth with special needs makes us a strong candidate for being counselor at your school. XYZ University is rich in its culture. Students from almost every area would be observed here. We have come in contact with a diverse population of students who have very different backgrounds. Social functioning and the ability to learn vary from student to student. Helping students set realistic social and academic goals for themselves, under the supervision of their kind teachers is the part we enjoy and excel in. The feeling of being incapable of achieving goals is the root cause which results in failures, and our activities aim to improve frustration tolerance of students in order to overcome the feeling of being incapable. We encourage students to reflect on their past success and realize their true potential thereby giving them the confidence required to triumph. We work in close collaboration with the teachers of students to achieve realistic goals of students. As outlined above, our dedication to the field of education and more specifically our willingness to prove ourselves in the field of counseling as well are the major factor for which you should consider us. We believe you will discover us to be one of the best counselors in the world. We appreciate your time and consideration. Please do not hesitate to contact us at 1-800-433-7300 to arrange a meeting at your convenience. We are submitting herewith our report entitled accommodation issues of students. The main purpose of this report is to present our clear vision about the solution of the existing problems. The proposal shows a detailed scope, approaches and methodologies of finding solutions, and different

Developing an Implementation Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Developing an Implementation Plan - Essay Example Such resources include funds, equipment, transport and official recommendations among many others. Obtaining approval for a new solution or project is not an easy task. The first task in this process is convincing the leadership that the solution is relevant and effective. First of all, I will request for a meeting with the relevant authorities for the purpose of presenting my solution to them. I will then prepare thoroughly before the meeting, ensuring that I am fully conversant with all matters regarding the solution so that I may be able to satisfactorily answer all questions asked and, therefore, provide a good impression. This will prevent the leadership from turning down the solution because of my failure to provide sufficient information about it, and proving to them that the solution is more effective than current solutions. During this meeting, I will confidently explain the solution to the hospital authorities while trying to keep the details as straightforward as possible. I will then provide them with an opportunity to ask questions, criticize the solution, or provide their own opinion which may help to improve it. After obtaining the approval of the healthcare authorities, the next task will be to obtain the support of fellow staff. This is necessary because fellow healthcare staff participates in the process of testing the solution to determine its effectiveness. Furthermore, they will be the ones to apply the solution if tested and accepted, to evidence-based practice. Its final application in evidence-based practice will not be fully successful if not all the staffs are convinced of its relevance to the self-management of juvenile onset diabetes. In order to obtain their support, I will approach them and explain the solution to them, and how it will benefit them in their practice, and their patients in the management of their condition. Afterwards, I will give them the opportunity to critique the solution and provide their opinion so as to impro ve it and eliminate any weaknesses that I may have overlooked. I will then modify the solution in accordance with suggestions which are relevant. Description of Current Problem Current methods of managing diabetes mellitus type 1 involve insulin replacement therapy, dietary management, and careful blood glucose monitoring using glucose monitors. Current methods of glycemic control are quite complicated and, therefore, juveniles with diabetes type 1 mellitus have to visit the hospital on a regular basis for accurate blood glucose level checks. Additionally, they have to visit a healthcare facility during cases of sudden hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia which may have adverse effects on health. Recent advancements in medical technology have considerably simplified glycemic control and reduced the need to visit a health facility for checkups. This is because these new technologies have simplified continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), making it possible for juvenile patients to manage effec tively their condition without having to visit a healthcare facility. For this new solution to be successful, patients have to be thoroughly educated on the methods of glycemic control, self-administration of insulin, and dietary management. Detailed Explanation of Proposed Solution For juvenile patients to control their type 1 diabetes effectively, they need to make independent decisions on a daily basis concerning insulin intake, diet, and exercise.

Debates on Race and Language: Frantz Fanon

Debates on Race and Language: Frantz Fanon In no way should I dedicate myself to the revival of an unjustly unrecognised Negro civilisation Explain and assess this statement by Fanon at the end of Black Skin, White Masks Introduction We understand the world, ourselves, and other people through language (Foucault, 1977). For Foucault everything in life is determined by what he calls discourse, that is to say what we say about a subject. Thus, the language that we use defines how we see the world and how we view other people. Foucault (1977) further maintains that language is controlled by those who hold power in society. This means that everyone else’s use of language is determined by what those I power have to say about a subject. Nowadays many writers maintain that the social and linguistic construct of race has had a powerful effect on the consciousness of both black and white people. Language is real because it is inevitable acted upon (what Bordieu describes as a speech act) the language that spoke of one race as inferior to another became a justification for enslaving those people designated as inferior. Discourses of race and inferiority were central to the success of the modernist project as black p eople were seen as treacherous to the central narrative of Western personhood, that is to say they were different from what was elevated as the white norm (Fanon 1986). Frantz Fanon was a French essayist and author whose main concern was decolonisation and what he, and many other thinkers have seen as the psychopathology of colonialism. He died in 1961 at the age of 36 yet his work continues to be highly influential, particularly in the fields of cultural studies and race and ethnicity. He wrote most of his work while he lived in North Africa, by contrast, Black Skin, White Masks was written while he was still living in France. For many he is seen as the intellectual thinker on decolonisation in the twentieth century. His work has had far reaching implications over the years on a number of liberationist movements which has led some people to regard him as an advocate of violence.[1] Beginning with an introduction to modernity this assignment will discuss Fanon’s work and his statement in the context of this debate about language and the debate about black experience and black identities which, Gilroy (1993) maintains can only be understood in terms of the history of slavery. Fanon (1986) would however, dispute this notion, he believes that if it were at all possible, then colonialism should be done away with and wiped from the history books, even though he recognises that this is not possible. The period of colonialism where countries were made great on the backs of slavery separated white from black as though they were two completely different civilizations. The western world became that of the oppressor and the oppressed and Fanon sees the world in terms of this almost pathological relationship. Fanon’s work in Black Skin, White Masks (Fanon, 1986 ed.) encapsulates the sense of division that is felt by both oppressed and oppressors, black and white. Such divisions are rooted in the period that sociologists and cultural theorists now speak of as modernity. Modernity The onset of what is known as Modernity can be traced back to the Enlightenment in the late 17th to early 19th century. The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement and its primary concerns were the powers of human reason, the inevitability of human progress, and the ability of science to provide humanity with answers. Philosophers of this period were also interested in how knowledge was transmitted and how we came to know what we know. This period is renowned for the immense technological and social changes that were taking place and which eventually led to a break with traditional view of the social, of society, and of a person’s place within that society. During this period there was an intense concentration on the individual, which prompted the philosopher Hegel to develop his idea of the historical subject. This is the idea that people’s actions are what have made history what it is. In recent years many theorists have argued that the subject referred only to the white, western, middle class male (see Abbott and Wallace, 1997) and that women, children and other races were excluded from the whole project. This idea of modern society, coupled with the Enlightenment notion of human progress has been problematic for a number of reasons, not least because, as we are well aware, human beings do not always act rationally, and in this sense modernity brought out the darker side of our human nature. The events of the twentieth century have done nothing to dispel this notion, in fact there are those who would argue that modern society is now at its most irrational. Modernity gave the world the nation state, the spread of capitalism and as we shall see, western cultural imperialism and colonization. Modernity produced the conditions for slavery and its success was built upon the enslavement of people who were regarded as different from, and thus inferior to, white western males. Fanon’s Concerns Western history is not just a history of colonial oppression but it is also a history of the struggles against such oppression. Western history is about the oppression of colonialism and the struggles against that oppression, which calls into question Enlightenment notions of the subject. These problems are examined by Fanon in Black Skin, White Masks (1986) where he concentrates on black subjectivity and experience and with the problematic concept of western modernity. He was also concerned with the refutation of dualism, that philosophy apparent in the Enlightenment period which separated things into binary opposites such as male/female, white/black. Binary divisions not only separate genders and races, they objectify them because that which is other is defined only by the oppressor. Fanon’s other major concern was the dislocation that occurs when people are taken from their homelands and forced into a diasporic existence.[2] Fanon (1986) contends that the biggest weapon the coloniser’s had was their representation of those who were colonised, as different. This was done in such a way that they were no longer recognisable even to themselves. For Fanon being colonised estranges human beings from themselves so that they are no longer connected to their own human nature. He is concerned with the history as it is relates to the black experience although his work is sometimes disorganised and not always easy to follow. He writes about the black/white, self/other experience, and how colonialism results in an alienation of the person. Fanon, is against ethnic and cultural absolutism, but could see no reconciliation between the races because the white colonisers will always be waiting for the black mask to slip and reveal the whiteness beneath. Syncretism Gilroy (1993) traces the mutual influence of black and white culture in both America and Britain in an attempt to challenge notions of national and cultural purity and reveal a syncretism of the cultures. Decades before this and in his earlier work The Wretched of the Earth (1963) Fanon writes about syncretism as oppression where the black person assimilates the culture of the coloniser whether they like it or not. He maintains that such syncretism is the colonisers way or reducing black people and thus he speaks of the settler’s creation of the ‘native’ a concept which is evident in the discourses of modernity and its rational subject. This subject could only exist by excluding difference and otherness. Fanon (1986) maintains that the ‘Negro’ is only acceptable on certain terms: What is often called the black soul is a white man’s artefact . . . there is a quest for the Negro, the Negro is in demand, one cannot get along without him, he is needed, but only if he is made palatable in a certain way. (Fanon 1986, p. 114) In saying this Fanon rejects both narcissistic myths of Negritude (and) the White Cultural Supremacy (Bhabha, H. 1986:ix) which is most obvious in linguistic terms. This cultural supremacy still operates today, in most countries in the world children will learn English in school, when the English go abroad many of them do not trouble to learn the language of the country they are visiting. People assume that English will be spoken because cultural hegemony has its base in language and this language signifies power. Thus the language carries with it the power and knowledge of the nation. Hall (1992) argues that nationalism and the nation state are a direct result of capitalism. When people promote these things in a multi-cultural society it can result in people having a confused sense of national identity. Hall further maintains that identity and culture are closely linked. The cultural diaspora that was brought about by slavery has resulted in what Hall (1992) terms ‘hybrid identities’- an expression which in some ways is expressed in Fanon’s idea of black skin and white masks. Fanon (1986) argues that race has been objectified through discourses of superiority and inferiority and has thus become a fixed category which he decries. What these discourses have done is to make of the black person a divided self, a person with a ‘double consciousness.’ This is a term first used by W De Bois, who defined double consciousness as a twoness-an American, a Negro, two souls, two thoughts, two unrecognised strivings, two warring ideals in one da rk body, who dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder (Dubois 2003 quoted in Sawyer, M 2005:86). This double consciousness is demonstrated in the relationships involved in slavery. Slavery was an integral part of this double consiousness of which Du Bois wrote because it consciousness was central to Hegel’s master/slave idea, where the slave remains a slave because they are dominated by a slave mentality. Following on from this line of thought was Richard Wright who believed that the Negro was a symbol in the psychological, social and political systems of the West. The Negro spoken of in modernist discourse was once an African, along with the experiences of slavery this led black people to experience a sense of dislocation where they experienced what the philosopher Nietzsche once described as a frog’s perspective because they looked up from beneath the chains of their oppressors (Wright, 1956). The frog’s perspective lay behind Wright’s understanding of double consciousness. Wright’s work had a strong influence on the writings of Frantz Fanon. In Fanon’s work this‘double consciousness’ or divided self is not restricted to the colonised, Fanon maintains that it is also a property of the coloniser because colonialism affects the self-understanding of both the oppressed and their oppresors. In this he demonstrates the influence that Wright (1956) had on his work because Wright thought that mental illness could result from the relationship between master and slave, between the oppressed and the oppressor. Fanon believed that racial subjectivity was determined from outside of the individual and so he sees neither a unitary black experience nor a unitary white experience. Fanon sees experience as contextual rather than historical, that is to say that the experience of the black person who remained in Africa would be very different from the black person who was made a slave – white experience is affected in a similar way. Thus Fanon says that I do not have the right to allow myself to be mired in what the past has determined. I am not the slave of the slavery that dehumanised my ancestors (Fanon, 1986:230). Conclusion When Fanon says at the end of Black Skin, White Masks that In no way should I dedicate myself to the revival of an unjustly unrecognised Negro civilisation. He is arguing against the objectification of race and the language of inferiority and superiority that are associated with the term ‘negro’. His life’s work was dedicated to decolonisation of those areas that were still part of what had been called the British Empire. The negro was a function of the coloniser’s differentiation of the slave from the white owner. Thus Fanon’s statement acts as a repudiation fo slavery and colonisation. Furthermore Fanon’s argument is important to cultural analysis and to society at large. Talking about a separate negro civilization puts us in the position of being stuck in the binary categories of a black/white cultural analysis that is the heritage of modernity and its failures. What Fanon (1986) appears to be saying is that society and its analysis needs t o go beyond ideas of nationalism and ethnic absolutism – because these things paved the way for colonialism and slavery. Fanon (1986) recognises that we have to live with the inheritance of colonialism and that things are not changed overnight. If we dispense with many of its ideas as Fanon appears to suggest then this raises the question of how we analyse race, nationalism, gender and ethnicity without the use of those categories? We have to have some way of speaking about the things that trouble our society and the best ways of dealing with them. Whatever we choose to say or feel about this as individuals the fact of the matter is that these categories are part of our consciousness and so are integral to our discourses on these subjects. Having said that, things are perhaps only this way because those who are not white, western, middle class males, will always be other – because most of the power in the world is in the hands of this group their definitions of concepts still holds. Bibliography Abbott and Wallace 1997 A Feminist Introduction to Sociology London, Routledge. Bhabha, H. 1986 â€Å"Foreward† in Fanon, F. 1986 (1967) Black Skin, White Masks London, Pluto Press Bourdieu, P. 1991 .Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press. Fanon, F 1963 The Wretched of the Earth New York: Grove Press Fanon, F. 1986 (1967) Black Skin, White Masks London, Pluto Press Foucault, M. 1977 Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison London, Allen Lane Gilroy, P 1993 The Black Atlantic London, Verso Hall, S. 1992 â€Å"Our Mongrel Selves† New Statesman and Society, 19th June 1992 Sawyer, M 2005 â€Å"DuBois’ double consciousness versus Latin American exceptionalism: Joe Wright, R 1956 The Colour Curtain Dobson. London . Wright, R. 1979 Native Son Harmondsworth, Penguin 1 [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frantz_Fanon#Work [2] The spread of groups of people (often against their wishes, and specifically black people and Jews) across different parts of the globe.

mind vs machine :: essays research papers

In 1792 Mary Wollstonecraft in her work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman posed the question, "In what does man's pre-eminence over the brute creation consist?" She answers, "In reason and virtue by which mankind can attain a degree of knowledge." Today, no one would argue that man and woman are not intellectually equal, or that humans have a superior intellectual capacity over the brute creation, but what would they say about humankind versus the machine? We have always felt ourselves superior to animals by our ability to reason -- "to form conclusions, judgments, or inferences from facts or premises"(Random House Dictionary). Philosophers have argued for centuries about what defines reason, now on the dawn of the 21st century this age old question must be revisited. Since the ENIAC, the first mainframe, hummed to life in 1946, the chasm between humankind and machine has appeared to dwindle. Computers have insinuated themselves into the lives of millions of people, taking over the performance of mundane and repetitive tasks. With the constant improvement of computer technology, today's super-computers can outperform the combined brain power of thousands of humans. These machines are so powerful that they can store an essay sixteen billion times longer than this one in active memory. With the development of artificial intelligence software, computers can not only perform tasks at remarkable speed, but can "learn" to respond to situations based on various input. Can these machines ever procure "reason and virtue," or are they simply calculators on steroids? We have now reached the point where we must redefine what constitutes reason in the 21st century. On the intellectual battlefield, in February 1996, thirty-two chess pieces, represented the most recent challenge to the belief that thought is exclusive to humans. Kasparov, the world chess champion, faced off against one of IBM's finest supercomputers, Deep Blue. Chess, a game of logic and reason, would be a perfect test of a computer's ability to "think." In the Information Age battle of David vs. Goliath, the machine clearly had the advantage. Deep Blue is capable of playing out 50- 100 billion positions in the three minutes allotted per turn. Nonetheless, the silicon brain was no match for the cunning intellect of the human mind. Deep Blue lacked the ability to anticipate the moves that Kasparov would make. In preparation for the game, Kasparov adapted a strategy of play unique to the computer.

Composition and Structure of Meat

Meat is the flesh of an animal used for food according to â€Å"the little oxford dictionary†. The connective tissue cells are joined together into bundles by two types of connective tissue. White and yellow connective tissue, the white connective tissues are called collagen, is found in all the muscles of the animal; it is dominant in the more tender cuts of meat. Yellow connective tissue; called elastin, it is predominant in the muscles which carry the heaviest load of constant strain and work. The fat on the outside of an animal's muscles is called cover. The fat which lies between the bundles of muscle fibers is called marbling. The positive nutritive value of meat is in the lean tissue and not in the fat. The amount of marbling in the meat and between the connective tissues is a very important factor in meat since it creates the bite or chewability looked for in cooked meat. The white connective tissue breaks up and becomes moist in cooking, whereas the yellow connective tissue requires mechanical means of tenderizing such as pounding, cubing, or grinding. The younger and less exercised an animal is, the less yellow connective tissue it will have and the tenderer its meat will be. Meat is composed of 75% Water, 5-40% Fat, 5% Minor components, Minerals (especially iron), enzymes, and pigments. Grading of beef. The grading of beef is dependent on the Feed, which means that the food the animal was consuming before it was slaughtered, affects outer surface fat and muscle marbling, Age at Slaughter, Breed and breeding History which refers to Hereford vs. Angus vs. Longhorn. Grades of beef * Prime- More Favorable and tender, which has a lot of marbling, * Choice and select- This is the leaner part of the meat * Standard, commercial and utility- An average to good quality, flavor, and tenderness. * Canner and cutter-Used in canned and processed meat purpose. Market forms of meat

Appeasement in Europe essays

Appeasement in Europe essays There are many pros and cons that go with the idea of appeasement, but overall appeasement is a poor method used to resolve situations. To appease means to pacify or conciliate, basically it was a method used by the great powers in Europe to keep Germany from becoming an international threat. Sadly the method backfired and appeasement became a cause of WWII. Starting in 1933 Hitler began to keep his promise of making Germany a strong country, Hitler began to rearm his kingdom. According to the treat of Versailles, Germany was allowed no more than 100,000 soldiers, no air-force, and a seriously limited navy. To make Germany strong once again Hitler began to rebuild the military in secret. Against the treaty he built 1000 aircraft and trained 200,000 men. Shortly after in 1933 Hitler withdrew from the disarmament treaty as well as the league of nations. From 1933-35 Germany continued to secretly rearm to substantial numbers but on March 16th, 1935, Hitler decided that there was no longer to rearm in secrecy. He announced that that there would be compulsory military service for all men, because of this the army increased to 550,000 men. This great increase in offensive power was noticed by all the great powers, yet nothing happened. Germanys rearmament could have been halted by any of the great powers, but because all the major powers had their own problems to deal with, Germany was left alone. Britains money was scarce due to the great depression but mainly wanted to stay in splendid isolation and uninvolved in international affairs. The French rather than threatening Germany with invasion, they built up their defence greatly thus creating the Maginot line. One country that did come close to taking action was Italy. In 1934 the Nazis tried to overthrow the Austrian government, many thought that Germany would want to unite Germany and Austria. To prevent this, Mussolini Placed tro...

5 Guys Essay

5 Guys Essay 5 Guys Essay Entrepreneurial Leadership Five Guys Burger and Fries. For BUS 508 – Contemporary Business April 28, 2013 Five Guys Burgers and Fries know that a company cannot be everything to every customer, so instead they decided to focus on selling a good burger at a fair price. Their idea is to keep it simple and do not cut corners and this idea helps to differentiate it from the big fast-food chains. When founders Jerry and Janie Murrell star started their business they went looking for the best ingredients to use. Their choice to use high quality ingredients means they need to charge more for their products but the Murrell’s felt that once the customers eat their burger they would not mind the additional cost. They make every hamburger to order for every customer, who has a choice of 11 different toppings and serve it on a hamburger bun that was baked using a recipe crafted specifically for their stores. Since big well established fast-food chains are able to sell such large quantities of food then can do so at incredibly low prices. Their use of lower quality products such as frozen meat, dehydrated fries, and vegetable oil for frying French fries. Five Guys uses high quality 80% lean beef that is never frozen for their juicy burgers. They also use potatoes from the northern part of Idaho, where they grow slower and are more solid. Then they take the time to soak them and pre-fry them so that when they get fried for orders they do not absorb the high quality peanut oil. Five Guys motto of â€Å"keep it Simple† carries over to their dà ©cor of their restaurants. They stuck with clean white walls with red tiles. They keep their kitchens open so customers can see that they are kept clean. The Murrell’s feel that their food deserves their attention, and that they do not need to distract their customers with walls covered with nonsense. While most of the big fast-food chains spend roughly 3% of their earnings on marketing and advertising, Five Guys does not spend any of their revenue on either one. They feel that their food speaks for itself. They also feel that the best advertising for a company is for a customer to leave satisfied. The only type of advertising they rely on is word of mouth from their customers. Five Guys would rather spend their money on high quality ingredients. The Five Guy founders also feel that when you are trying to sell a great product you also need to be mindful of the staff you hire to sell it. They feel that if they hire well paid employees and treat them fairly they will be loyal and proud to be the front line of your business. Instead of using revenue for advertising they feel it is more beneficial for them to offer bonuses to their crew members. Five Guys has worked with another company to utilize secret shoppers to their stores to rate each one on the cleanliness, courtesy, and food preparation. They also have safety audits where a person will come into a store and check the kitchen equipment and if they received a high score the crew would be eligible for a bonus to be split among the members. This incentive program give the staff a motive for paying attention to details and providing an exceptional customer experience. When Jerry Murrell and his family starts Five Guys they believed in selling a good burger at a fair price. They chose to spend their money on high quality ingredients and to provide the customer with an exceptional service experience. This was something they could easily have control over when they just had a few stores that were run by the family. Since franchising their stores they have continued to use their high quality ingredients. They are still using the same vendors to supply their stores that they were using when is all began in 1986. The Murrell family feel that there burger taste better when they are served on a bun that is

Myan Indians Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Myan Indians - Essay Example Mayan Indians were well developed and highly skilled in the artistic jobs such as pottery, carvings, drawings and ceramics. Some carvings, sculptures, stucco reliefs and murals are found from the ruins of the Mayan civilization that represent the art of the Mayan civilization (Coe 65). The artistic pieces found are indicative of the artistic skills of the Mayan Indians. The human figures carved on stones and colors used for depicting the civilization and culture of people look so beautiful and refined that the development of arts at that time appears much better than ours. Mayan Indians also attached their names with their created artistic pieces in order to inform the viewers about their art and talent (Demarest 43). Mayan architecture is also very famous like its art. The towering pyramids with steps are regarded as the most influential architecture of Mayan civilization (Sharer and Traxler 42). Caves with carvings are also a distinctive feature of the Mayan Indians. The caves such as Jolja cave, Cave of the Witch, Candelaria caves and many others are famous for their architecture and designs (Demarest 49). Plazas, palaces, ball courts, observatories and temples are found in their architectural designed buildings. Roads were also present attaching cities together. The buildings also went through several amendments as with changing rulers, the designs also got amended according to new instructions. The architecture as a whole can be considered as reminiscent of a great civilization (Coe 78). The buildings and constructions made by the Mayan Indians are depictive of their skill at architecture and design. The Mayan civilization was quite developed as they had their own writing system. They used to write with animal hair brushes and their writing was black in color with red highlighting (Demarest 59). In the writing system, the Mayan Indians usually used phonetic symbols and glyphs in order to

Choose two theorists of Consciousness who write from different Essay - 1

Choose two theorists of Consciousness who write from different perspectives; explore and evaluate their respective contributions to the discipline of Psychonautics and Somanautics - Essay Example It should also fully explain the phenomena that are related to consciousness elements (Wilber, 2000). Although it is as old as human existence itself, consciousness has been a major unresolved problem in the world of science (Lancaster, 2004). However, there are some researchers who are willing to tackle this mystery. The term psychonautics is derived from two Greek terminologies: psyche (mind, spirit, soul) and nautes (sailor, navigator). It refers to the methodology used in the explanation and description of the subjective effects of consciousness states that have been altered (Surhone, Tipledon and Marseken, 2010). These alterations of the mind can be caused by many things including the use of mind-altering substances and spiritualism. Psychonautics can also be used to refer to a certain research concept whereby an individual explores human existence and experience by immersing himself into a state of altered consciousness (Eccles, 1994). Psychonautics can also be defined as the methodology sued in the study and exploration of consciousness and altered forms of consciousness. This definition rests with the idea that for one to study consciousness, he has to transform it first. Somanautics, a derivation of the Greek words soma (body) and nautes (Salilor, navigator), is a term used to refer to the exploration of the consciousness of the body. Therefore, the field of psychonautics and somanutics deals with the study and exploration of the body, mind and soul. The person who immerses himself into altered states for research purposes is referred to as a psychonaut (Blom, 2009). Surhone, Tipledon and Marseken (2010) add that the term psychonautics can be applied on a diversity of activities including those in which the altered states are â€Å"induced and utilized for spiritual purposes or the exploration of the human condition† (3). Some of the examples of altered state