About the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a military alliance of countries from Europe and North America promising collective defense. Currently numbering 29 nations, NATO was formed initially to counter the communist East and has searched for a new identity in the post-Cold War world. Background In the aftermath of the Second World War, with ideologically opposed Soviet armies occupying much of Eastern Europe and fears still high over German aggression, the nations of Western Europe searched for a new form of military alliance to protect themselves. In March 1948 the Brussels Pact was signed between France, Britain, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg, creating a defence alliance called the Western European Union, but there was a feeling that any effective alliance would have to include the US and Canada. In the US there was widespread concern about both the spread of Communism in Europe – strong Communist parties had formed in France and Italy - and potential aggression from Soviet armies, leading the US to seek talks about an Atlantic alliance with the west of Europe. The perceived need for a new defensive unit to rival the Eastern bloc was exacerbated by the Berlin Blockade of 1949, leading to an agreement that same year with many nations from Europe. Some nations opposed membership and still do, e.g. Sweden, Ireland. Creation, Structure, and Collective Security NATO was created by the North Atlantic Treaty, also called the Washington Treaty, which was signed on April 5th 1949. There were twelve signatories, including the United States, Canada and Britain (full list below). The head of NATOs military operations is the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, a position always held by an American so their troops don’t come under foreign command, answering to the North Atlantic Council of ambassadors from member nations, which is led by the Secretary General of NATO, who is always European. The centrepiece of the NATO treaty is Article 5, promising collective security: an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all; and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. The German Question The NATO treaty also allowed for the alliance’s expansion among European nations, and one of the earliest debates among NATO members was the German question: should West Germany (the East was under rival Soviet control) be re-armed and allowed to join NATO. There was opposition, invoking the recent German aggression which caused World War Two, but in May 1955 Germany was allowed to join, a move which caused upset in Russia and led to the formation of the rival Warsaw Pact alliance of Eastern communist nations. NATO and the Cold War NATO had, in many ways, been formed to secure West Europe against the threat of Soviet Russia, and the Cold War of 1945 to 1991 saw an often tense military standoff between NATO on one side and the Warsaw Pact nations on the other. However, there was never a direct military engagement, thanks in part to the threat of nuclear war; as part of NATO agreements nuclear weapons were stationed in Europe. There were tensions within NATO itself, and in 1966 France withdrew from the military command established in 1949. Nevertheless, there was never a Russian incursion into the western democracies, in large part due to the NATO alliance. Europe was very familiar with an aggressor taking one country after another thanks for the late 1930s and did not let it happen again. NATO After the Cold War The end of the Cold War in 1991 led to three major developments: the expansion of NATO to include new nations from the former Eastern bloc (full list below), the re-imagining of NATO as a ‘co-operative security’ alliance able to deal with European conflicts not involving member nations and the first use of NATO forces in combat. This first occurred during the Wars of the Former Yugoslavia, when NATO used air-strikes first against Bosnian-Serb positions in 1995, and again in 1999 against Serbia, plus the creation of a 60,000 peace keeping force in the region. NATO also created the Partnership for Peace initiative in 1994, aimed at engaging and building trust with ex-Warsaw Pact nations in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, and later the nations from the Former Yugoslavia. Other 30 countries have so far joined, and ten have become full members of NATO. NATO and the War on Terror: The conflict in the former Yugoslavia had not involved a NATO member state, and the famous clause 5 was first – and unanimously - invoked in 2001 after terrorist attacks on the United States, leading to NATO forces running peace-keeping operations in Afghanistan. NATO has also created the Allied Rapid Reaction Force (ARRF) for faster responses. However, NATO has come under pressure in recent years from people arguing it should be scaled down, or left to Europe, despite the increase in Russian aggression in the same period. NATO might still be searching for a role, but it played a huge role in maintaining the status quo in the Cold War, and has potential in a world where Cold War aftershocks keep happening.   Member States 1949 Founder Members: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France (withdrew from military structure 1966), Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, United States1952: Greece (withdrew from military command 1974 – 80), Turkey1955: West Germany (With East Germany as reunified Germany from 1990)1982: Spain1999: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland2004: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia2009: Albania, Croatia2017: Montenegro

Brother, My Brother - Bienvenido Santos BOOK REPORT

A Book Report: â€Å"Brother, My Brother† by Bienvenido Santos ABMA 116 Viennard Concepcion I. Title â€Å"Brother, My Brother† A. Etymology Brother, My Brother was entitling to the author itself. It is like conveying himself as his own brother, saying that no much more can embrace his self very much rather than himself only. A very brief autobiography which focuses on the author’s painful journey back to his past and on how the author goes back to his land but later on go back to the foreign and serve it as his home. B. Reference 1. Literal The story was like the author was representing himself and telling his journey by the means of telling that it is the author’s brother. 2. Symbolic The story was like calling the†¦show more content†¦A lot of the houses that he once knew were more dilapidated and the waters in the areawere black as ever. There were still a lot of Kankong fields in their town and from walking by them he found Apung Genio who used to be his late father’s friend. Apung Genio used to cut his hair as a child and when he greeted the old man he barely recognized Selmo.Selmo re-introduced himself carefully and when Apung Genio remembered him beganto reminisce of his childhood and his father’s. They talked about childhood friends and their adult lives like Dulo who was now a sweepstakes peddler and Ching who had already wontwice.Then Selmo asked Apung Genio on how his children were now. He was told that ApungGenio’s daughters Loreto and Simang have not yet married and may become old maids. Thenhe asked on how Apung Genio’s son Ambo is. Apung Genio hesitated to answer him butshortly reminisced how Selmo and Ambo were c lose friends. Finally he told Selmo that Ambois now in prison. This surprised Selmo but he no longer asked further because Apung Geniotold him that he was feeling dizzy and needed to rest. Selmo then thought that maybe after heleaves Sulucan and return one day he may find out more details on why his friend Ambo was in prison but for now he will just let it be. 2. Conflict Returning to heritage has its own stories to tell; there are the good sides which are thefond memories of long ago and the bad sides which is the

Marketing Strategy free essay sample

Starbucks, a leading specialty coffee retailer in the world has been selected because of its strategic approach in responding to external pressures as well as their strong capabilities in sustaining themselves in a highly competitive environment. Their approach to product development, technological advancement and in providing a unique experience would lend to them establishing themselves in Trinidad and Tobago. As the foundation for investigation, analysis, Porter’s 5-forces Model and Value Chain have been applied. They were used to analyze the macro, micro and internal factors with the given limitations for each odel. The report found that the major areas of threats are dependency on suppliers, price sensitivity that is affected by the global economic recession and competition. Despite the threats, the report focuses on Starbucks competencies in product innovation, set distribution channels, providing quality service and experience and technological advancements to enter into Trinidad and Tobago’s market through Market Development Strategy (Ansoff 1968). The weak points in this definition include failure to mention that marketing is a process that involves different steps including segmenting, targeting and positioning. The definition focuses only on creating demand and gaining profit with no reference to delivering value to customers or to managing customer relationships. Marketing is defined by the AMA as The activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. This replaces the previous definition, which still appears in the AMAs dictionary as: An organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. † This new definition has a more extensive view of marketing describing it as an activity and a set of institutions along with its original defini tion of being a multi-step process. It also highlights the fact that marketing is beneficial not only to customers, organizations and stakeholders but also to the society as a whole. â€Å"Exchanging offerings that have value for customers† replaces â€Å"Delivering value to customers† in the old definition to empathize, from my point of view, the transactional spirit of the marketing process being one of mutual benefits exchange and to convey the idea that the value delivered to customers is not stagnant and should be continuously updated to satisfy their evolving needs and wants. I do not see any points of weakness in this definition except my failure to understand the exclusion of mentioning marketing as an organizational function requiring the involvement of several departments as well as not referring to managing customer relationships which is an important milestone in the marketing process. My Definition of Marketing â€Å"Marketing is the process of gaining insight to what customers really want, creating demands based on this insight and making profitable exchanges to customers, clients, partners and society. † N. B. Underlined words justify the strong points in my definition) Definitions of Marketing Management Marketing Management is defined by the AMA as â€Å"The process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals. † This definition’s strong point lies in referring to marketing management as a pro cess and mentioning some managerial tasks as planning and execution. Many weak points, in my opinion, can be clearly detected in this definition. No reference is made to choosing target markets or even attracting and maintaining customers. Ideas, goods and services used in the definition are outdated and better be replaced by creating, delivering and communicating value to customers. In addition, the word â€Å"goals† is not as descriptive of individuals’ aims from marketing as words like needs, wants or demands. â€Å"Marketing Management is defined in THE Wikipedia as â€Å"A business discipline which is focused on the practical application of marketing techniques and the management of a firms marketing resources and activities. † The strength of this definition comes from referring to the use of marketing techniques and implying the need to manage the marketing resources of the firm. The weakness of this definition is due to lack of the different aspects referred to in discussing the previous Marketing Management definition. My Definition of Marketing Management: â€Å"The process of managing profitable customer relationships through choosing proper target markets as well as attracting new customers, retaining and growing current customers by sustained creation, delivery and communication of superb customer value. † N. B.

The Redefining Of Social Institutions Essays - Culture, Empowerment

The Redefining Of Social Institutions The Redefinition of Sociological Institutions So long as there are economic fluctuations, homogamy amongst subcultures worldwide, and the willingness of people and researchers to multi-laterally communicate towards achieving the quality of life desired by all groups, there will remain the possibility of ?re-defining? sociological institutions. To name a few from the wide spectrum of possibilities, two institutions that have been significantly ?redefined? by time are the American family culture and co-housing communities throughout the United States. American family culture in the 1700's consisted of a style of living called the extended or ?connected? family. The idea arose that the extended family style had been ?damaged?, therefore deserving a more critical look into the issue. In a ?connected? family, the economic value of family members far outweighed their personal family freedoms. Entire families of people would be living and working together in a group to gain economic stability. Women's interests were thought to be insignificant by society, and children were bred freely as to increase the family's labor capital. The extended family style was one of mutual support and complementary value between family members. Women and children worked long hours on their farms and were denied of any freedoms whether they are personally or politically empowering. The women then finding a ?second shift? (household duties and child rearing) when they retired from working that day. The in-depth look at the structure of the extended family raised new ideas on increasing the quality of life for all existing ?connected? models. Views about women's empowerment, freedoms, gender equity, and self-sufficiency were established along with Clark2 those of child welfare and proper upbringing. This experimental family style was considered an early form of the nuclear or ?non-connected? family style. Mother's relationships with their children grew more significant and women were allowed more and more access to new child-rearing technologies and focused more on ?child turnout? than economic growth. By acting to liberate and equate the interests of women this movement molded the ?spheres of influence? and traditional roles of the existing ?connected? family model. Thus, kin-direct motherhood styles quickly became obsolete due to the sudden increase amongst women in modern thinking and technology. The ?new? nuclear family was one full of individual freedoms that were foreign to most families, in that they only knew of the traditional family practices. That explains how ?American family life? as a social institution has the ability to be re-defined via modern sociological theory and concept. To further prove the power of sociological research, the co-housing to NEL model transformation occurred. The co-housing model was established in the late 1960's strictly for the purpose of reforming some of the undesirable characteristics of 1950's family life for those residing. It emphasizes ?interdependence? of neighbors in a community, whereas residents can even have ?cross-household? responsibilities within their neighborly setting, and both children and adults become integral parts of their immediate social web. These responsibilities were mainly those of involvement in other's child-rearing, without any distinct political or social agendas. It is not an attempt to revolutionize family life or public policy, so much as it was a ?comfort zone? for structure-desiring families. Clark3 Idealist beliefs were established by those who felt as though they understood the structure of society and its' functions. This vision called ?utopian realism? was usually a distorted reality that was based around existing fact and theory. This new concept fathered the modernized co-housing based community know as the New Everyday Life. Unlike the co-housing model, the NEL model was equipped with social and political agendas towards the promotion of women's empowerment. It was generally assumed that all people would benefit in this discreet structure, and that gender alliance was to be agreed on. The NEL model advocated freeing women from the threat of violence, enhancing their negotiation capabilities with men, wage employment, and social empowerment. The principle of neighbors supervising the lives of those next to them, and becoming involved in other's personal business became an issue of controversy among these communities. A system of ?virtual democracy? or ?commonplaces? was fo rmed to carry out NEL objectives and make decisions in the community's best interests. The NEL was ultimately a very modernized and advanced version of co-housing with a feminist agenda, and