Slaughter Essays - Counterculture Of The 1960s, Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughter House Five Theme Bombshells exploding all around, destruction everywhere, civilians running for their lives... total devastation. This is exactly what Kurt Vonnegut encountered in the fire-bombing of Dresden during World War Two. Vonnegut bases his novel, Slaughterhouse-five on this event in his life. Several themes can be seen throughout the novel: The theme of war and its contrast with beauty, love and innocence, the theme that people are merely "bugs in amber", the theme that death is inevitable and that no matter who dies, life goes on, and finally, the theme that no matter what happens, one must retain his humanity. The first and perhaps most obvious theme is the idea of war and its contrast with beauty, love, and innocence. Vonnegut uses Slaughterhouse-five to show his readers a simple concept: that war is bad and love is good. But, the subject of love is not often brought up in the book. There are no broken romances because of the war, and none of the characters really talk about love. For example, Billy did not even seem to love his wife very much. However, Vonnegut sees love and beauty in things other people might not see. When Billy was captured by the Germans, he did not see them as a horrible enemy, but as innocent people. "Billy looked up at the face that went with the clogs. It was the face of a blond angel, of a fifteen-year-old boy. The boy was as beautiful as Eve." (Vonnegut 53) Vonnegut finely explains the contrast between war and love, beauty and innocence. The second theme is very different from the first one, but it is perhaps the most often stated. Vonnegut tells his readers that people are all "bugs in amber". This phrase is seen when Billy is captured by the Tralfamadorians. The idea can also be interpreted as man being physically stuck in this world and having no choice as to what he can or cannot do. Man can think about everything, but he does not have the power to change anything or create anything. This idea is seen when Billy finds himself proposing to Valencia. "Billy didn't want to marry ugly Valencia. She was one of the symptoms of his disease. He knew he was going crazy when he heard himself proposing marriage to her, when he begged her to take the diamond ring and be his companion for life." (Vonnegut 107) Billy didn't want to marry Valencia, but he was "stuck in amber", so he did. The main thing Vonnegut likely wanted to show with this theme has to do with war. When Billy discusses the problems on earth with the Tralfamadorians, they tell him that there is no way to prevent war. They tell him that to try to prevent war would be "stupid", because there would always be wars and that mankind was "designed" that way. People may work for peace, but they are wrong and do not understand human nature. Mankind cannot stop war because we are "stuck in amber". So man should just keep on living life as it comes. Vonnegut clearly explains this point in the novel. Another distinct theme is that death is inevitable and that no matter who dies, life still goes on. The phrase "So it goes" appears every time someone dies, which is one hundred and three times. It enables the narration to keep going and probably helped the author see death as the Tralfamadorians do. "When a Tralfamadorian sees a corpse, all he thinks is that the dead person is in a bad condition in the particular moment, but that the same person is just fine in plenty of other moments. Now, when I myself hear that somebody is dead, I simply shrug and say what the Tralfamadorians say about dead people, which is `So it goes'". (Vonnegut 27) The theme that death is inevitable is thoroughly expressed and plainly seen in the novel. Slaughterhouse-five has many different themes, but perhaps the main thing that Vonnegut wanted to express to his readers is that no matter what happens, people must retain their humanity. In other words, man should not let himself be ruled by anyone or anything, be it a god, money, power... We should be ourselves. "I looked through the Gideon Bible in my motel room for tales of great destruction. The sun was risen upon the Earth when Lot entered into Zo-ar, I read. Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Lord out of Heaven; and He overthrew

The History of Chinese New Year

The History of Chinese New Year The most important holiday in Chinese culture around the world is undoubtedly Chinese New Year, and it all started out of fear. The centuries-old legend of the origins of the Chinese New Year celebration varies from teller to teller, but every telling includes a story of a terrible mythical monster preying on villagers. The lion-like monster’s name was Nian (Ã¥ ¹ ´), which is also the Chinese word for â€Å"year. The stories include a wise old man who counsels the villagers to ward off the evil Nian by making loud noises with drums and firecrackers and by hanging red paper cutouts and scrolls on their doors, because Nian is scared of the color red. The villagers took the old man’s advice and Nian was conquered. On the anniversary of the date, the Chinese recognize the â€Å"passing of the Nian,† known in Chinese as guo nian (è ¿â€¡Ã¥ ¹ ´), which is synonymous with celebrating the new year. Lunar Calendar The date of Chinese New Year changes each year because its based on the lunar calendar. While the western Gregorian calendar is based on the Earth’s orbit around the sun, the date of Chinese New Year is determined according to the moon’s orbit around the Earth. Chinese New Year falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice. Other Asian countries such as Korea, Japan, and Vietnam also celebrate the new year using the lunar calendar. While Buddhism and Daoism have unique customs during the New Year, Chinese New Year is far older than both religions. As with many agrarian societies, Chinese New Year is rooted in a celebration of spring, like Easter or Passover. Depending on where its grown, the rice season in China lasts roughly from May to September (north China), April to October (Yangtze River Valley), or March to November (Southeast China). The New Year was likely the start of preparations for a new growing season. Spring cleaning is a common theme during this time. Many Chinese families clean out their homes during the holiday. The New Year celebration could also have been a way to break up the boredom of the long winter months. Traditional Customs On Chinese New Year, families travel long distances to meet and make merry. Known as the Spring movement or Chunyun (æ˜ ¥Ã¨ ¿ ), a great migration takes place in China during this period as many travelers brave crowds to get to their hometowns. Though the holiday is actually just a week long, traditionally its celebrated as a 15-day holiday when firecrackers are lit, drums are heard on the streets, red lanterns glow at night, and red paper cutouts and calligraphy hang on doors. Children are also given  red envelopes  containing money. Many cities around the world hold New Year parades complete with dragon and lion dances. Celebrations conclude on the 15th day with the Lantern Festival. Food is an important component of New Year. Traditional foods to eat include nian gao  (sweet sticky rice cake) and savory dumplings.   Chinese New Year vs. Spring Festival In China, New Year celebrations are synonymous with Spring Festival (æ˜ ¥Ã¨Å â€š or chÃ… «n jià ©), which is typically a week-long celebration. The origins of this renaming from Chinese New Year to â€Å"Spring Festival† are fascinating and not widely known. In 1912 the newly formed Chinese Republic, governed by the Nationalist Party, renamed the traditional holiday Spring Festival to get the Chinese people to transition into celebrating the Western New Year. During this period, many Chinese intellectuals felt that modernization meant doing all things as the West did. When the Communists took over power in 1949, the celebration of New Year was viewed as feudalistic and steeped in religion, not proper for an atheist China. Under the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese New Year wasnt celebrated some years. By the late 1980s, however, as China began liberalizing its economy, Spring Festival celebrations became big business. Since 1982, China Central Television has held an annual New Year’s Gala which is televised across the country and via satellite to the world. Over the years, the government has made several changes to its holiday system. The May Day holiday was increased and then shortened to one day, and the National Day holiday was made three days instead of two. More traditional holidays, such as the Mid-Autumn Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day, are emphasized. The only week-long holiday that was maintained is Spring Festival.

Likable and Dependable

Likable and Dependable Are these two tools part of your branding? Arent sure? Then theyre probably not. But why are these two traits so important when youre selling your words and not a public performance? Jane Friedman and Porter Anderson recently established a newsletter on the publishing industry titled THE HOT SHEET (http://hotsheetpub.com/). I was a Beta reader as they worked out the kinks. Its intensely smart, as would be expected from these two industry brains, but in a recent issue they addressed this issue of what readers expect in an author: The scientific finding from Nielsen: Authors, in general, are among the publics fave people in the entertainment world. Only TV and film actors score more highly with fans, which means that authors are rolling in ahead of sports figures and musical artists. Whats more, fans of authors like their authors more than fans of other types of people like their icons - even athletes are not as highly thought of Most of the authors I know fall into one of two categories: 1) They write a lot and promote when they have a new release or an upcoming event; or 2) They promote one book a lot and are slow in putting out new releases. That makes both inconsistent and less reliable, and according to that Nielsen report cited in THE HOT SHEET, makes those writers give the appearance of being less successful, influential, and dependable. So what does that mean for you . . . the burgeoning, struggling writer? It means you write and market each and every day. You appear to always be on the move, always producing, always available to the reader. Its hard, but doing otherwise these days when the competition is steep and the books cheap, will leave you in a lot of writers dust where readers wont be able to find you.

Discuss the role agriculture plays in modern society with its Essay

Discuss the role agriculture plays in modern society with its implications on the environment - Essay Example However, agriculture is said to be one of the biggest contributing factors in the climate change, so here is the dilemma; we need to double our food production in order to feed billions of people and even the spiraling population growth of the world in the future. Regarding this, here's the very basic point of Dr. Jonathan Foley, director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota, "How do we feed the world without destroying it?† (TEDxTalks 1; University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment 1). This is a great area of concern considering that agriculture is absolutely linked with environmental issues, but on the other end, people need it as absolute necessity in order to survive. Agriculture in modern society According to Dr. Foley, â€Å"Feeding nine billion people in a truly sustainable way will be one of the greatest challenges our civilization has ever faced† (Gillis 1). This emphasizes the fact that the world’s populatio n growth is inevitable and the ultimate concern today is on how to feed billions of people in the future with great consideration of sustainability. Dr. Foley accepted the fact that it is only through agriculture people will be fed, but in line with sustainable way doing it, the answer remains to be created in great detail knowing the fact that there are various concerns that need to be taken into account. As the society becomes modern, people around the world also think differently and become health conscious at some point. Thus, complex diets are rising to the extent that people are looking forward to more healthy diets. This means enhancing modern agriculture is a must in order to meet the prevailing needs and demands of the society. After all, healthy diets are remarkably in line with agriculture as far as food production is concerned. Society at the top end are rich enough with food supplies due to their ability to produce them and avail their distribution, but the impoverish g roups continue to experience malnutrition and even starve to death (Gillis 1). The answer may be certain that appropriate food distribution and regulation is the key, but in order to address health concerns in a more efficient way, food modification and research need to be integrated with food production with agriculture. In fact, the rise of biotechnology and the breakthrough of genetically modified crops to enhance food diets have become integral components of modern agriculture in the modern society. Furthermore, the occurrence of energy crisis paved the way for enhancing or improving agriculture practices or techniques in order to provide maximum production of raw materials. These raw materials at some point may be staple food requirements which in this case using them as raw materials to answer energy crisis competes against the humans’ absolute necessity for food. One basic example is the possibility of biofuel as an alternative source of energy to answer the prevailing energy crisis. In addition, animals compete with humans on certain types of foods. This requires doubling or increasing production of these kinds of foods. In order to meet this, the answer still boils down to how agriculture should be maximized up to its full potential. However, the real issue is that the available land for agriculture needs to be increased while globalization and population increase continue to limit

Finance and Growth Strategies -MBA- Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Finance and Growth Strategies -MBA- - Essay Example In a market where there is faultless information and perfect sureness, company share valuation would create not so many hassles, however, in the real world, assessment and projection issues connive to make the valuation process easier said than done. One recommendation is the employment of earnings approaches that take advantage of a firm’s net after-tax earnings at a suitable rate of return. In utilising an earnings-based method, at least three elements need to be established. The evaluator has to make an educated guess as to the amount and timing of future receipts and a suitable discount rate. An option to the employment of net after-tax earnings is to base the analysis on earnings before interest and taxes (Feldman 2005; Pratt, Reilly and Schweits 2000; Pratt 1986). This procedure is fashionable and well accepted among leverage buyout groups and investors because it permits them to reach a value that defuse differences in financial structure. Essentially, substantial debate enfolds the choice of the discount rate used to get the most out of earnings or cash flows. This price stands for both the time value of money and the â€Å"risk† involved in cash flows. As it is, the capital asset pricing model is a universally employed method. Nonetheless, speculative issues linked to the postulations of the appropriate market proxy, risk-free rate, and sample period have led valuation experts to reflect on different ways to work out an appropriate discount rate. Substitutes can include the application of historical market risk premiums and the employment of indices available from government or private sources (Koeplin, Sarin and Shapiro 2000, pp. 94-101; Brealey and Myers 1991; Weiss 1987). Several valuation schemes acknowledge the fact that when purchasing a business enterprise, a buyer is actually making a speculative venture today hoping for

Burma’s Peaceful Transition to a Democratic Future Essay Example for Free

Burma’s Peaceful Transition to a Democratic Future Essay Burma is an Asian country that attained its independence on 4th January 1948 and is bordered by China on the North and Thailand on the East. it was referred to as the union of Burma in 1948. On January 4th 1974 it changed its name to the union of Burma and then on 23rd September, 1888 it reverted to the union of Burma. In 1989, then it changed the name again to the union of Myanmar and this was through the efforts by the state law and order restoration council (SLORC). It is a country whose population has had a lot of significance in Burma’s politics. The Burmese government is known as Myanmar and assumed an authoritarian feature that is dominated by a military leader. There have been substantial efforts to switch to a more democratic moves but these efforts have be hampered by the military which is against this move for example in 1990, a parliamentary government was elected but the Burma’s military could not let it to convene. Burma has a population of about 50 million people and has 500,000 troops who have been helping the government to create a regime of fear by denying the citizens most of their basic rights. Some democratic leaders have come up and visualized a viable idea of freeing the people from the torture they get from the government. In 1992 with his party the National League for Democracy, managed to scoop 82 % of all country’s parliamentary seats but the military regime which used dictatorship principles declined to transfer power to the leaders that were democratically elected. For more than ten years later, Aung San Suu kyi was put on house arrest and was released only in 2002. Her release was viewed by many as the only hope to the establishment of Burmese democratic government that would be sensitive to the people’s needs unfortunately in 2003 herself and many of her supporters were killed by a rowdy mob that was sponsored by the government. This conflict between the majority and the minority became evident after Burma achieved independence in 1948. It was at this time that Aung San Suu was given the mandate to control all those areas that traditionally were not controlled by only single community. After 1948 when the Burmese constitution was signed, constitution right have not been exercised on the minorities, they also do not have pieces of land and especially those that formerly belonged to their people. Since the war period, the Burman minorities have been sidelined by the majority who are the Burmese Burma was a British colony from the 1920s and this continued up to 1948. Though the Burma’s heartland was ruled directly by the colonial powers, the surrounding regions were allowed to rule themselves and this led the loyalty to split along the ethnic lines. The dominant ethnic group is the Burmese that comprise of 68 percent of the whole population and minority accounts for the remaining 32 percent. Religion in Burma has played a key role in causing further divisions. There are many religious in Burma for example there are Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus. These religious divisions have been aggravating the situations for example in 1991; more than a quarter million Muslims were evicted from their homes. This was exacerbated by the fact that there were many alliances formed. They were forced to cross the border to Bangladesh where they were accepted as refugees by the Bangladesh government but were helped by the international community with the basic needs. Today, the Burmese government is led a prime minister whose regime is greatly accused of displacing thousands of Burmese communities both internally and externally, some community such as Karen, Mon and Kareni were forced to seek refuge in Thailand. Those that are internationally displaced receive a better treatment than those that are internally displaced as the later are mistreated by the military. It is estimated that about 600,000 citizens have been internally displaced and are constantly looking for ways they could avoid slavery. They are used as slaves by this government as many of them are conscripted in the army by force or are left with no other choice except from joining the drug network that is sponsored by the state. There are various movements that have been trying to free the population of Burma from military. Some of these are; the Junta, the Karen National Union and the Moi Tai army though their efforts did not materialize because most of the current military officials are from the community with the majority that oppresses the minorities. So, it is really hard to make any advance but there is one very vibrant group that has mobilized the minorities to participate in a non-violent peaceful demonstration. Led by Buddhist monks, these people protested against the abuse of human rights and matched in groups of more than hundred thousand protestors in the streets. The Head of the State, General Shwe who is also the chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is greatly criticized by the United States and the European governments which have imposed various sanctions that are enforced thorough consumer boycotts. The United States of America and the European governments using their influence led other Western nations to stop cooperating with Burma. Though these governments have been relentless in enforcing bans against Burma, some western companies are still cooperating due to some loopholes in sanction application. Most of these are the oil companies. Such as the American oil company and the French oil company. Also Cherron and the Yadana natural gas pipeline that runs from Burma all the way to Thailand is so much in use. There are still Asian businesses that operate in Burma for example the Daewoo Company that invests in extracting resources. The United States government in collaboration with the European governments also imposed sanctions on Burma’s clothing as well western nations to stop sourcing from Burma and more particularly those shops that were either partially or wholly supported by the government. After those peaceful protests, a good number of people stopped getting their products from Burma and these were led by an individual like Levi Strauss who was very vibrant in keeping up with the fight against the government products for example from 1992,many American cloth and shoes companies stopped acquiring their properties from Burma. In 2003, the united government banned Burma’s imports as in accordance with the Burmese freedom and democracy Act that was amended in the year 2003 however, some people have attacked this United States strategy of forcing this government to step down as has led many people to suffer greatly. Despite these critics, the move was supported by the Burmese democratic movement and has supposed by the Burmese democratic movement and has vowed to keep encouraging the western world to impose harder and stricter sanctions against the military government (Smith M. 1991) Burma insurgency and the politics of ethnicity London and New Jersey. Zed books. The human watches in Burma have highlighted all the crimes against humanity but there is no judiciary to address the problem any such move faces strong opposition from the military government. There is no free communication that is allowed by the Burmese military government in fact no one is allowed to access the internet and the search engines such as Google, G mail, hotmail and yahoo so the Burmese citizens are less informed. What the government has done is that it does not allow these companies to operate in its territory and as such they are blocked. If people have to access materials from the internet, they must first of all be filtered and censored by the military government. They use US filtering soft wares such as the Fortinet to censor emails, web pages and pro-democratic pages. In Burma, child soldiers are forcefully conscripted. They are also forced to punish their fellow military friends by being giving death threats incase they do not as they bare told. Children are conscripted in army by force. These children are promised to be jailed if they do not accept to join the army. Since the military regime usurped power in 1962, after overthrowing sthe democratically elected government, this regime has been one of the worst violators of human rights in the whole universe. The climax reached after the (SLORC) State Law and Order Restoration Council was changed To State Peace And Development Council sometimes back in 1997, November. This party in 1988 seized the states powers established itself and forcefully removed the little pretence that was there that they were upholding the dignity of the citizens and took part in massacring the demonstrates who were demonstrating against the creation of this undemocratic regime. They were marching in the streets of Rangoon and Burmese towns and cities when the military forces descended on them killing thousands. According to the comment that was made by the amnesty international human rights violation and torture were like a Burmese institution and they even listed various forms of abuses that were perpetrated by this corrupt regime. This report was further affirmed by the United Nations and other human rights watchdog. These abuses that they listed were for example torture, murder, litany abuses, forced displacements of citizens, holding or arresting individuals and keeping them in detention houses without trials and various litany abuses. These were the activities that were characteristic of this military regime and citizens have suffered enormously under it. Children were also abused by the military that forcefully conscript them in the army and also the villagers were forced to work for the military. Children are reportedly said to have been raped and defiled by the troops. The military operations that are from time to time conducted in various villages and these led to deterioration of living standards for example this was witnessed in Karen state and Shan state in 2001. This has forced many to be to run away to the neighboring states such as Thailand while those who are unable to move out of the country were internally displaced. The internally displaced and lived in the camps for internally displaced received very harsh treatment by the ruling military regime than those who manage to seek refuge in the neighboring states. The military regime do not in any way follow the internationally agreed freedoms for example the civil and political rights though Burma is a signatory to various international peace accords. Everything that happens in this country must be censored including the exhibitions. There is completely no freedom of expression. Even publications are not spared as they are censored by the government infact it is only sports and romance magazines are not censored. The broadcasting media houses are state owned and the government has the monopoly over them. They only air information that is favorable to them for example you it is common to see junta’s generals making speeches and from these stations and instead they go for less biased information. The SLOPCS has been very determined in curtailing the freedom of speech. Though they try to censor the information given by the public media, there are international ones that give more accurate information and these are what people rely on. These are stations such as the British broadcasting corporation (BBC), the democratic voice of Burma, radio Free Asia and the Voice of America (VOA). Apart from these international radio stations, any other person who goes against this decree risked twenty years imprisonment as per the 1996 decree. These are some of the laws that are enforced by this government without any regard to the international law standards. Burma is a resource-rich country that suffers from government controls and abject rural poverty. The military regime took steps in the early 1990s to liberalize the economy after decades of failure under the Burmese Socialism, but those efforts have since stalled. Burma has been unable to achieve monetary or fiscal stability, resulting in an economy that suffers from serious macroeconomic imbalances including a steep inflation rate and an official exchange rate that overvalues the Burmese kyat by more than 100 times the market rate. Burma is a nation that is rich in various natural resources for example the country has precious such as pearls and rubies. The country is also rich in natural gases. In 1962 its economy was performing well when compared to other economies of the developing nations but the socialist party which assumed power later changed the economic status of Burma for example it replaced the capitalism mode of economy with socialism that advocated for central planning as opposed to central planning. Due to this economic change it became one of the poorest developed nations of world. In addition, most overseas development assistance was cut after the junta suppressed the democracy movement in 1988 and subsequently ignored the results of the 1990 election. A crisis in the private banking sector in early 2003 followed by economic moves against Burma by the United States, the European Union, and Japan including a US ban on imports from Burma and a Japanese freeze on new bilateral economic aid further weakened the Burmese economy. Burma is data poor, and official statistics are often dated and inaccurate. Published estimates of Burmas foreign trade are greatly understated because of the size of the black market and border trade often estimated to be one to two times the official economy. Better relations with foreign countries and relaxed controls at home are needed to promote foreign investment, exports, and tourism. In February 2003, a major banking crisis hit the countrys 20 private banks, shutting them down and disrupting the economy. In July and August 2003, the United States imposed a ban on all Burmese imports and a ban on provision of financial services, hampering Burmas ability to obtain foreign exchange. As of January 2004, the largest private banks remained moribund, leaving the private sector with little formal access to credit outside of government contracts. In Burma the rate of unemployment is very high and the prices of commodities are very high and life standards are very high. According to one businessman said that the situation in Burma was moving from bad to worse and that there was looming danger of social unrest, lectures, professors and pipeline construction workers are poorly paid. Due the constant mass uprising by the democratic movement against this regime, it was rendered bankrupt in 1988 in the onset of the 21st century, it was on the lowest income generating countries in the world but it has greatly reversed this situation because it dropped its economic isolationism. It has also welcomed the foreign investors in its economy so that it would strengthen its military bases. In response to its call, UNOCAL and TOTAL oil companies came to its rescue. In Burma, there are military controlled economic sectors such as Myanmar economic holdings limited and the Myanmar economic corporation that is, UMEH and MEC respectively. These two industries which are controlled by the Burmese military are the ones that dominate the economic sector of Burma. UMEH is geared towards military strengthening while MEC is geared towards shifting the defense cost from the public sector to the private ones but both corporations have a part to play in strengthening the military base of Burma. Though European Union has been imposing economic sanctions to Burma its sanctions are not as stricter as those of the United States. It has invested a lot in Burma and it doesn’t want to lose the much that it has invested. United States has been very keen in reinforcing the bans or sanctions that have been imposed on Burma. The US government particularly has imposed a ban on its investments in this country and has also placed a ban against Burmese exports. Since the bans were proposed, US is the only nation that has implemented them. In the past, the European Union has not been imposing strict sanctions but starting from last year it has increased economic sanctions on precious metals and on imports such as gemstone and timber but they still demand for fresh elections to be held and human rights to be respected. It is only thorough these ways that the country can witness a transition from military rule to a democratic one. It had eased its sanctions basing its reasoning on its above conditions. Japan has been very friendly to Burma. It has never failed to support this military regime though on a small scale. Infact it is one of the major donor in Burma but it is reconsidering its foreign policy on Burma especially after a Japanese journalist was killed. It said that it would cut the aid that Burma gets from it. The other reason for it to withhold its financial aid was in 2003 when San Suu Kyi was kept in detention by the Junta. They believed that was the only best move that would pressurize the military regime to address the democratic principles that have never been allowed to take root in this regime. In 2002,Japan supported Burma’s government with 17 million US dollars on top of that it gave Burma the technical support it needed Japan which was all this time shying away from enforcing sanctions on Burma as the US and UK were doing, it changed its policy after this saga. The British government pressurized the European Union to increase sanctions until san Suu Kyi was realized but it was assured that these sanctions would be eased if Suu Kyi was released. That nation that seems to support Burma or appears or appears or appears to be annually to Burma face violation by the US and UK government and this has occurred to china and North Korea. This is based on misconception that these close friends would be providing economic support to this government that has little regards for its citizens. The United States for example was very bitter because Burmese government suppressed democracy and imposed its will on people and that is why it has imposed sanctions. The heroic stature of Aung San Suu Kyi has greatly helped in making Myanmar to be recognized world wide. China has been blamed for helping this region for its support. The western world cannot sway the Juntas government for this to be effective, then the regional ASEAN countries such as India, Thailand and especially china must first be willing to transform this government. China has been asking Myanmar to quell violence and control protesters but it seems this is falling on deaf ears. China has been helping Burma in international affairs management for example it has been very vibrant in keeping the issue of Burma out of the United Nation’s agenda but the United States and the British governments have been on the other side. Due to many economic sanctions that have been imposed on this regime, it finds it even hard to provide aid to its people who living in poverty. The aid that Burmese gets is below par and is the lowest in the region especially when it compared with that of the local countries for example, an individual’s aid is counted as 2. 5 dollars per head while that of Laos’s stands at 63 US dollars. China has been accused of providing Junta with military aid thus limiting the chances of democracy being realized. It has continued to conduct business relations with. Burma but it is because of some factors that are understandable and some of these are that Burma is rich in useful natural gases that china is interested in again Burma provides China with an overland route to the Indian ocean so Chinese government would not do anything to destroy its relations with Burma. Though there have been calls for better treatment of protestors, they fall on deaf ears. The amnesty international has been pressurizing the United Nations to impose embargos and sanctions on China so that peace in Burma would be realized. This is based on understanding that the Burmese military government relies on china for most of its assistance so, if china was to cut its military aid then, the Burmese government would be unable to control the nation there by creating a platform of peace transition. If the new government would come in place, it would not find it hard to sustain itself even without getting any financial aid from other countries. There are a lot of minerals that aid from other countries. There are a lot of minerals that would help the government to finance its entire government projects. The new government should create confidence among its citizens so that they would participate in the economy thereby making the economy of this nation even stronger. This government should also extend its business relations with other nations as many of them do not have those minerals and definitely they would be so much interested in them. Work cited. Altsean-Burma: Alternative Asean Network on Burma campaigns, advocacy and capacity-building for human rights. 2008. Accessed on Wednesday, March, 2008 at http://www. altsean. org/ Andrew S. Burma’s Armed Forces: Power without Glory. Norwalk: East Bridge. 2002; 45-56 Burma net News. Accessed on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at www. burmanet. org BBC News. Analysis: Burmas economic Crisis. 15th March, 2002, 13:47 GMT Accessed at http://news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/business/1871326. stm Brookings. Quality, independence and impact. Retrieved on April 30, 2008 at www. brookings. edu Donald M. S. Burma-China Relations: Playing with Fire. Asian Survey, Vol. 37, No. 6, 1997; 533 International Crisis Group. Working To Reduce Crisis World Wide. Retrieved on April 30, 2008 at http://www. crisisgroup. org/home/index. cfm Myanmar. com. New Light of Myanmar. April 30, 2008 Accessed on April 30, 2008. At http://www. myanmar. com Philip S. Robertson: Sanctions Are Working in Burma. 2003. Online commentary at www. irrawaddy. org/com/2003/com31. html Accessed on August 2003. Smith M. Burma insurgency and the politics of ethnicity. London and New Jersey. 1991; 78

Fighting for His Dream :: Personal Narrative Essays

Fighting for His Dream      Ã‚   For the past several years Casey Martin has taken the golf world by storm, not only with his awesome golf game, but also with the lawsuit that he has filed against the PGA Tour. He is suing the tour for the right to play with the aid of a cart because of the deterioration of the bone and muscle in his knee, which impairs his walking abilities. The rare circulatory disease that Martin has is called Klippel-Trenanuary Weber Syndrome, and can lead to the total amputation of his leg, above the knee, in the near future (White). Therefore, if he is unable to use a cart he cannot pursue his dream of playing on the PGA Tour. Even though he has won the right to use a specialized cart at the present time, the PGA Tour has filed an appeal, which could once again deny Martin the use of the cart that is necessary for him to play (Ferguson). Because Casey Martin is an amazing example of courage, determination and perseverance, he should not be turned down with his request; th is man is a great person who could prove to be a role model to many people, especially children. I believe he should be allowed to ride a cart on the PGA Tour so he can chase his dream, and in the process possibly provide someone else with some encouragement to work harder in reaching their own goals or dreams in life when they see how driven Martin has been to reach his goal.    Casey Martin, The former Stanford teammate of Tiger Woods, has a game that is good enough to compete with the best players in the world. Martin has recently proved that he is one of the best golfers in the world and is good enough to play on tour because he finished 14th on the Nike Tour money list which earned him his year 2000 tour privileges (Ferguson). This is a major accomplishment considering many past tournament champions on the PGA Tour have qualified through the Nike Tour just as Casey Martin did this past month. Also, he has proved how mentally tough he is because of the extreme pressures he has faced and overcome when playing golf at the level at which he is competing, along with the constant stress of his court case.