Mexican/Latin American “War” on Drugs and Trafficking Essay -- Drugs,

The international drug trade from Latin American states is having an impact on a global scale. The trafficking of drugs along with corruptness and murder is an international conflict that is being fought daily. There are many aspects of the drug war from Mexico and other Latin American states which have effects on United States policy as well as policies from other countries that participate in the global suppression of illegal drugs. It can be hard to differentiate between conflict and issue in regards to Latin America’s drug war and International Relations. The Mexican drug war is a global issue because it interferes with the states ability to collaborate and form policy in order to address the issues between international borders. Conflict arises because certain states want to resolve the situation and are willing to do what is necessary to do so. While drug-related violence in Mexico receives considerable attention, the Northern Triangle of Latin America is far worse. Venezuela has emerged as a major departure point for cocaine trafficked to Europe. Between 2006 and 2008 over half of all detected maritime shipments of cocaine to Europe came from Venezuela. (Crime 2010) These ports in Latin America have had an impact on the cities in the Bahamas as well with the drug cartels exporting their drugs quicker to the surrounding countries; they use the ports of the Caribbean to refuel while on the way to Amer ica. The waters of the Caribbean islands are patrolled by navies from the United States, France, Canada and the Netherlands. (Barnes 2010) However, the patrolling of the waters has not had a significant impact in the delivery of drugs to other countries. As the international drug trade continues to spread and grow, Mexican dru... ...it is their states right to produce these illegal substances if they wish. Supply and demand also shows that as long as people are willing to do illegal drugs states and people will continue to produce them. The United Nations, an international organization, has set up an office called the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, this office is authorized to set up field based projects, research and analytical work, and normative work in the effort to counteract illegal drugs, crime, and terrorism. This office reports directly to the general assembly and is part of a larger Intergovernmental Organization. (U. N. Crime 1997) With this office and the principles of reciprocity, a response to another’s actions when states that help one another in times of trouble or need, governments across the globe are uniting their efforts to stop the trafficking of illegal drugs.

Environmental Ethics: Not Beneficial Anymore Essay

Environmental problems stemming from the human population, pollution, conservation of resources, and preservation of species are complex and difficult to resolve. Increasingly, it is understood that one difficulty of resolving them is due to the fact that they are fundamentally problems of ethics that possess broad descriptions and characteristics (Alexander and Fairbridge 1999 294). Thus, one sometimes hears the accusation that some self-proclaimed environmental ethicists are not really environmental ethicist at all since their speculations on the rights of future generations to a healthy environment represent more than extensions of inter-human ethics (Cooper & James 2005 3). Environmental ethics has more often focused on public benefits and public harms. In such scenario, individual’s autonomy is quite often seen as a source of harms, and there has been a steadily increasing emphasis on the consequent need to limit individual’s autonomy (O’Neill 2002 4). Environmental ethics is a relatively new field of philosophical ethics concerned with describing the values carried by the non-human natural world or basically the natura flora and fauna itself, and prescribing an appropriate ethical response to ensure preservation or restoration of those ethical values (Light and Rolston, 2002 1). In a strict sense, environmental ethics is concerned with three areas of inquiry concerning our relationship with the environment: (a) meta-ethics involves clarification method for answering morality queries; (b) normative ethics concerns the determination of what moral principles are valid and how we ought to act; and lastly, (c) empirical ethics focuses on what facts are necessary and relevant to inform our moral questions (Alexander and Fairbridge 1999 294). This often urgent concern arises especially in view of threats to nature posed largely by humans. These threats are both to other humans and to non-humans/nature, placing in jeopardy the communities of life on Earth (Light and Rolston, 2002 1). More broadly speaking, environmental ethics seek a reunification of humans with nature. Consequently, they draw upon more fields of inquiry than merely philosophy (Alexander and Fairbridge 1999 294; Light and Rolston, 2002 1). Environmental Ethics: Climatic Changes  Remarkably, the current definition of environmental ethics excludes problems of environmental justice within the very nature itself, the generations both present and future, and problems of intergenerational fairness from the discipline of environmental ethics (Light and Katz 1996 119). Climatic changes are vastly increasing its phase, particularly global warming and the changes that it brings. Environmental policies to correct such scenario are very much unorganized and lesser attention is placed into. Especially for those communities that do experience little part of the afflicting climatic change, the tendency is to act-out or save-face for play-safe mechanisms. The concept of environmental scope lies more on human-centered instead of climatic problems themselves; hence, the ethical scope produces lesser effect to correct the problems that occur in the environment. Climatic changes are vastly covering the conditions of our society but invisible to little acts are being made. Some think that environmental ethical policies should be evaluated solely on the basis of how they affect humans. This entails a human-centered environmental ethics; although, for example, the classical utilitarians include animal suffering in their ethical calculation, a variant utilitarianism, which enjoins us to maximize the surplus of human happiness over human unhappiness depicting an actual human-centered approach (Singer 1991 285). The primary problems of environmental ethics nowadays are the macroethical character that causes differentiation of definitions and broad statement, and the human-centered link that deviates from the deontological concepts (Warren 2000 74; Singer 1991 285; Alexander and Fairbridge 1999 294). In one example the ethical policy for preservation of endangered species, and protection of those animals near extinction are very much known already since the problems have been widely recognized ever since. On the irony, the controversies about global warming and the climatic changes have been occurring even before the recognition of animal endangerments; however, little attention has been given to this problem of climatic change. The only time the condition in climatic changes has been recognized is during the time of its severe progression wherein the signs and symptoms of climatic changes have been vastly evident. The rationale of human being’s recognition of the environmental problem is only due to the point wherein human civilizations are effected by the problem. Unfortunately, the ethical approach of mankind over these problems is not even problem-oriented, which is nature-oriented, but rather, to protect themselves from the natural devastations caused by the problems they have created. Summary and Conclusion Environmental ethics in the present generation concerns the benefit of human civilization instead of the benefit of environmental aspect. The duty of mankind is to conceal the intrinsic character of the environment instead of playing-safe from the moral requirements by conducting ethical policies that only concerns human-sake. The focus on environmental approach should be the prime center of the ethics itself, and the benefit of man should be prioritized secondly. Let us view one example, the policy of green environment, which entails tree planting to counter logging system, is one example of a play-safe act. Practically speaking, logging benefits humans; however, with lesser tree sources do not justify the approval of environmental centers to continue the logging process granted that such program has been initiated. Trees take time to grow; hence, it would be much better to stop the logging process and utilize other areas instead of nearly depleting the resource area. The ethical considerations involved in this practice needs to change to a more deontological concept. The present policies involved are no longer beneficial to the environment and humans attempt to address climatic problems, since the entire focus is not the problem itself but those that are afflicted. Environmental ethics should change towards the benefit of the environment itself and more on humanities duties over it.

Globalization and the new world food crisis Essay

Since the dawn of civilization, man has always ventured and made developments for his betterment. Man’s basic need like any other animal on the planet has been his food. Initially man devised new hunting skills and innovate new weapons to hunt and feed. As time passed by he understood the basics of agriculture and ended his nomadic life. This was a turning point in mankind and the need for growing food to survive was well understood. With the passing of more time, agricultural science was used to enhance agricultural outputs with most of the countries at least going through one form of agricultural revolution. The need for food is still an essential need in this world full of technology and finances. Globalization brought the world closer and resources of one country started being used for resources or capital from other country. The concept of open trade became evitable and food was traded in plenty. It didn’t matter, where one was and could buy vegetables and fruits from other countries. Staying in the United States of America once could have Chinese mandarins. This was the extent in which globalization had upsurge trade amongst countries. Today the scenario has changed drastically, even though there is trade available, there is a major scarcity of food available in the world to be traded. The surplus quota of food which always used to be exported by countries is now being used for keeping out in reserves and in storage. Today the prices of exports have reached as high as 80% of the original cost as the other countries have started banning exports. Food today has become more expensive and scarcer than oil and other extinguishing resources. Today the world has entered into a new world ‘food crises’. Prices of bread in grocery store have changed and risen more in a week that it has over the years. It is a very grave situation and the world is in serious mess for it. Food prices have really soared up making it very difficult for buyers in terms of finances, but they still have to buy it as it is food and one cannot live without food. It has been estimated that wheat prices are up by 120%, rice prices are up by 75% and it has been efficiently calculated by experts that on an average a poor family today is spending 80% of its income on food. Food which is a basic necessity for a man to survive is a matter for daily struggle for about billion people. Because of this callous increase in food pricing, there has been huge increasing in malnutrition and it has been estimated that more than 3. 5 million children are dying per year because of food shortage. Further more the food crisis, which had been lingering around for some time, but somehow world leaders failed to acknowledge it and due to which about 100 million people have crossed below the poverty line in the last 2 years. The situation is considered to be very grave as this problem is here to stay at least till 2015. This problem is there for in the future as situations have been created where food will become more expensive than gold. The situation has now been officially declared out of hand situation and rapid measures are expected to control the situation at least for the near future. Globalization has been of the main issues that has caused this food crisis in the world. Everything being connected if has its advantages then it also has a lot of disadvantages. Today because of globalization and international trade every country is dependent on some country for its commodities and export. One thing that was clear in the world was not everything could be made in one country, so it has to be bought from another country. Today if natural disaster strikes at one country and if that country is one of the biggest exporters of a particular food item, then it is seen that prices of that food item goes up in the international market. Today the sorrow of one country is proportional to international markets. For instance an example of how globalization affects the food crisis is seen below: ‘The price of maize has never been higher, and the future has seldom seemed rosier. Carleton is booming, with $200-million put up for a new bio fuel factory and, after years in the doldrums, there is full-time, well-paid work for 50 people. The same fields that surround houses may be bringing new money to rural America, but they are also helping to push up the price of bread in Manchester, tortillas in Mexico City and beer in Madrid as Challenged by President George Bush to produce 133-billion liters of non-fossil transport fuels by 2017 to reduce United States dependency on imported oil, thousands are patriotically turning the US corn belt from the bread basket of the world into an enormous fuel tank. Only a year ago, their maize mostly went to cattle feed or was exported as food aid. Come harvest time, almost all will end up at the new plant at Carleton, where it will be fermented to make ethanol’ (Yale Global). Globalization has taken its toll on fossil fuels. Today it’s known that fossil fuels will extinguish in the coming years and the world might come to a halt. For this scientist devised ways of making bio fuels with the help of corn and maize. As the current United States of America’s president George Bush has vowed to stop imports of oil and fossil fuel from other nations by 2017, he has started a massive operation for making the country self sufficient on bio fuel. This has made the farmers giving away corn and wheat for the production of the fuel. The United States of America had made special subsidy for the American farmers to compete with globalize rates and due to which actual wheat producing nations like Mexico had to lose out on its farming out wheat and corn as because of the amount of international trade norms imposed due to United States of America. Because of that farmers in Latin America had major crisis for their wheat and became dependent of the American policy. Today when America is giving away its corn and wheat production for making away bio fuel, bread has become a major issue for the world and the following will explain problems created by it for poor countries: ‘Ever since the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund broke down trade barriers in the global south-thus opening the gates for the dumping of subsidized grain from the U. S. and Europe-farmers in poor countries have steadily been driven out of business. Under the banner of â€Å"comparative advantage,† many poor countries that had previously been self sufficient in food were turned as a conscious matter of US foreign policy into food importing countries. But with the U. S. hoarding its corn and selling the rest of its food dear, these nations are left holding the poor end of an expensive stick’ (Eric Holt-Gimenez). After America, Australia is one biggest wheat production nation on the world and is also a large responsibility for the world’s food production. Globalization has taken its toll on the environment. Today industries and technology have shifted to a new level often overlooking environmental issues. This high amount of globalization has accelerated the phenomenon of global warming which itself is responsible for many issues. Because of global warming, there suns rays are directly affecting the planet through the depleting ozone. This rise in temperature brings in lots of disasters on its way, like meting of polar caps, abrupt changes of climate and worst of all no rain but more heat. Because of the globalization Australia has been suffering more lately and it is having multiple year droughts. These droughts caused by global warming are taking its toll on the wheat productions making the wheat and corn an expensive item for the world. The following will explain the condition of Australia’s wheat woes. ‘After America, Australia is normally the second largest exporter of grain, and in a good year it would hope to harvest about 25 million tones. But the country remains in the grip of the worst drought in a century, which is why the 2006 crop yielded only 9. 8m tones. Last year saw one of the best starts to a growing season for years, but dry weather in recent weeks has forced the Australian government to slash its crop forecasts by 30%’ (BBC). Globalization has taken its toll on two massive exporters of wheat and since these two countries are affected it becomes very hard for the world as the remaining wheat that is available becomes very expensive making it impossible for poor people to think of having bread. Hard as it may seem to believe but it is quiet true now that globalization has been the food stealer of the world. Today many people are being pushed below poverty lines as they cannot afford to buy food and the deaths related with starvation or malnutrition has increased to new heights. Everything is proportional to every activity in the world and since the prices of wheat have soared up, people are getting poorer and the buying capacity of people is getting directly affected because of it. The following piece will shed light on the relationship of poverty and globalization: ‘The relationship between globalization and poverty is complex, Harrison acknowledges, yet she says that a number of persuasive conclusions may be drawn from the studies in Globalization and Poverty. One conclusion is that the relationship depends not just on trade or financial globalization but on the interaction of globalization with the rest of the economic environment: investments in human capital and infrastructure, promotion of credit and technical assistance to farmers, worthy institutions and governance, and macroeconomic stability, including flexible exchange rates and Globalization and Poverty yields several implications. First, impediments to exports from developing countries worsen poverty in those countries. Second, careful targeting is necessary to address the poor in different countries who are likely to be hurt by globalization’ (Matt Nesvisky)

Anticipatory Socialization

Graduating high school students usually get very excited when they finally realize that they are going to college soon. Anticipatory socialization can take place in this kind of situation, since anticipatory socialization is a process or condition wherein an individual prepares to accept new norms, values, attitudes, and behaviors in a certain place or event. Looking back, I was filled with an overwhelming sense of excitement and anticipation when I realized that I was about to leave high school and get a taste of college life.I tried to visualize the campus, my future professors, classmates, and other things that I would be seeing in college. Choosing a college was quite difficult, so I did a lot of research in the internet and asked several friends about their opinions on which university is the best to study and get my degree. When I was able to choose a school, I gathered information through the internet about the campus, the different courses that the school offers, and the requ irements for applicant students.I took time to look at the college’s website and see all the information that will be helpful, such as the location of the school, facilities, curriculum, and all the information or details that can be seen in the college website. I took the opportunity to visit the school so that I would be able to see it for myself and make an impression whether I was going to like it there or not. I asked different people that I know about the school and the culture inside. It was fun getting varied information and feedback from them.I even learned about the style of clothes that most people wear to that school, so I made a mental note of shopping for clothes before I start going to that college. I was able to set my expectations already in college, and it made me feel ready to accept everything, whether it was a positive or negative thing. It was also because of my expectations that I felt excited instead of nervous about joining a new environment and start ing a new chapter of my life. Thus, anticipatory socialization greatly helps individuals in adapting, making necessary adjustments, and evaluating whether or not a certain thing suits him or her.

Pip and Magwitch Essay

Throughout the novel Great Expectations the reader will find that Magwitch plays a significant role to the plot of story. Not only does Dickens use Magwitch to form the main foundation of the story he also uses the character to convey Dickens’s view on important themes such as crime, punishment, social status and betrayal. In this presentation I will explore the ways in which Magwitch is presented and talk about and his significance in the novel. We are first introduced to Magwitch in chapter one. The reader becomes familiar with the character Pip; we learn he is a child who is alone in the graveyard and is mourning over the death of his family. The reader knows that not only would this upset Pip, it could make him feel frightened because as a child you are dependant on your family members to keep you safe. He makes it sound as if Pip was recalling what it felt like to be a child, like when we get the impression that he could have been exaggerating about wilderness and so on before him. An image is described, such as ‘the low leaden line beyond’ and this then is revealed as what it actually is; the river. This gives the effect that not only Pip is confused and lost by his surroundings but also and therefore scared and intimidated by them. Dickens delivers Pip’s emotions cleverly because there is no direct reference to how he is feeling at first. This is very good building up to the shock of first meeting Magwitch. The writer uses direct speech for his first words, which come out suddenly, at no particular starting point and with impression that they are loud! He says ‘Hold your noise. ‘ which sounds at first so abrupt it could be almost like he is trying to save Pip, that he fears for Pip too. We then read on to see how Magwitch is presented physically. He is wet and muddy, and is described as being stung by nettles, so he obviously does not look after himself properly. He is shivering and limping, so he may be unwell as well as cold. His shoes are broken and he has no hat or proper clothes which shows he cannot afford them. He has a very informal way of speaking, and is eager to see the scrap of food he finds on Pip, so this also shows that he is poor and working class. This could be because, or the results of being a criminal. The first chapter is important; we now know exactly what Magwitch looks like and how he is presented. As mentioned in the introduction, Magwitch is significant in the plot. The fact that he appears in the very first chapter makes us assume he is a main character, even though he does not reappear until later in the book when the reader either has completely forgotten about him or thinks it is very unlikely that he will appear again with the current story line, especially as at the end of chapter three it says ‘the last I ever heard of him. ‘ When he does make his unexpected reappearance in Chapter thirty-nine, he reveals news that causes him to become the centre of almost every aspect of the story line. By the end of Chapter fifty-four and when mysteries are revealed and loose ends tied we come to realise that Magwitch is somehow connected to every character. Pip, obviously because of the money he gives that cause him to become wealthy and middle-class. His lost past with Molly and Estella, his daughter, who was adopted by Miss Haversham. Also he is connected to Joe because it was his whittles and file he used to set him free. Perhaps he is connected to Mrs Joe because he murdered her. When Magwitch dies during chapter fifty-six, it impacts the plot and the characters, especially Pip. Magwitch influences other characters, especially Pip and sometimes they influence him too. Had it not been for Magwitch the way people behaved may have been very different! We do not know much about Pip before he meets Magwitch, but afterwards we find him to be cautious, for example how nervous he was when he meets Miss Haversham. This could have been a lasting effect from his fears upon first meeting Magwitch. Pip may have been so shocked by the way that the poor lived that he becomes even more determined to become a gentleman. It gave him an insight to the lives of the very poor. In chapter three Magwitch seems to wait all night just for the food Pip has brought him. Pip may have recognised his determination and perhaps used this will when he is seeking Estella as his wife later during the book. Magwitch may have been so grateful towards Pip that it made him feel like he should try and become a better person. Both Pip and Magwitch taught each other that you should not always be judgmental. For Pip, it was that he was at first very afraid of Magwitch and thought he was going to be scary. Later on he realises that he only was behaving in a threatening way because he was hungry and desperate for food.

Barack Obama Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Barack Obama - Essay Example It covers it covers many aspects of his life, starting from his birth in Hawaii to his relocation to Indonesia and back to Hawaii. It carries on with his life at Occidental College in Los Angeles, then at Columbia University in New York and finally at Harvard. It also examines Obama's life as a community organizer in Chicago. It then gives an account of Obama's political life from the days he served as an Illinois State Senator through to his days as a United States Senator and finally his decision to vie for the United States Presidency. The conclusion section highlights the main items of the paper and gives inferences where appropriate. It confirms the thesis of the paper. Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th President of the US, was born on the 4th August 1961. Obama happens to the first ever African American president. Before the presidency, Obama served as a junior Senator in the United States Senate from the state of Illinois between January 2005 and November 2008. He later resigned after he was elected president. Obama graduated from both Harvard and Columbia Universities. While at Harvard Law School, Obama was the Harvard Law Review president, the first ever African American to hold the position. Before he earned his law degree, while in Chicago, Obama served as a community organizer. Between 1992 and 2004, Obama became an attorney of civil rights in Chicago. During the same period, he served as a constitutional law teacher at the University of Chicago's Law School. Obama served in the Illinois Senate for three terms between 1997 and 2004. In 2000, he bid for the House of Representatives seat but was unsuccessful. Later in 2004, Obama successfully ran for a senate seat in the Unites States Senate. Obama's victory amid a crowded field in 2004, together with his keynote speech at a Democratic National Convention made him a rising national figure. Obama's election to the US Senate in 2004 had the biggest margin in the history of Illinois. Obama began his race for the US presidency in February 2007. He won the primaries against Hillary Clinton in 2008 and won the party's nomination to become the first ever African American presidential candidate of a major party. Obama went ahead to beat the Republican Party flag bearer John McCain in the 2008 elections. His inauguration as president was held on the 20th January 2009. Background Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, in the United States to Barack Obama Senior and Stanley Ann Dunham. Dunham was an English decent American from Wichita in Kansas. Barack Obama Senior was a Luo who came from Nyang'oma Kogelo village in Nyanza Province of Kenya. Obama Senior and Dunham first met at the University of Hawaii in Manoa during a Russian language class. Obama Senior, a foreign student, attended the university on scholarship. They married in February 1961, with Barack being born later the same year. Barack Obama's birth was announced in the Honolulu Star Bulletin and The Honolulu Advertiser. At the age of two years, Barack's parents separated and later divorced in 1964. Obama Senior returned to his home country, Kenya and only saw his son once before he met his death in a road accident in 1982. Dunham joined the University of Washington while living at Seattle in Capitol Hill with her son as a single mother (Ripley, 2008). She left Seattle together with her son in the 1962's summer and rejoined the University of Hawaii. After Dunham's separation with Obama Senior, she

Critical Thinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 11

Critical Thinking - Essay Example In her opinion, when such people are shamed because of something they are either doing or did in the past, many learn and quit. She however condemns the act of shaming people basing on things that are unavoidable such as maturity Towards the conclusion, the author dwells on two examples, which justify her claim that shame is good. She talks of a glutton who eats greedily and states that if such person is shamed, he or she will learn and stop the habit. After shaming them, they will stop eating too much, hence cut on their weight. 1. Angela states that everybody is ashamed of one thing or another. She provides examples such as the fact that some people are ashamed of being fat, having thick eyebrows or even failing a test and dropping out of school. 4. Angela claims that it is okay to make some people feel ashamed. To justify her claim, Angela brings out the example of somebody who eats because of pure greediness and gets fat to an extent that they are too big to fit a single bus seat. According to her, shaming such an individual will make him or her ashamed of themselves, hence lose weight and avoid health risks like heart attacks. 5. Angela also brings out an example of a woman who makes a fashion mistake like wearing a short dress yet she has short thick legs. Shaming her will make her feel embraced and she will not go out looking bad again. 6. Finally, Angela states that people should not be ashamed about some things such as early and late maturity. According to her, shame is inappropriate in a situation where something is beyond the control of an