Just War Theory and How It Relates to Desert Storm and the War in Research Paper

Just War Theory and How It Relates to Desert Storm and the War in Afghanistan - Research Paper Example Operations Desert Storm or Gulf war was conducted during 17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991, between an UN-authorized coalition forces from 34 nations against Iraq. The UN coalition forces were headed by America and the reason for this war was Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. George Bush Sr. was the American president at that time. The current Afghan war was started in 2001, immediately after the 9/11 incident. This war is often labeled as war on terror and the reason cited for this war was that terrorists use Afghan soil for conducting violent activities across the world. Taliban was accused for keeping nexus with other terrorist organizations in the world. In other words, America suspects that Taliban, Al Qaida and other terrorist organizations are working against America from Afghan soil. Politicians and neutral observers have different opinions about operation desert storm and Afghan war. Some people support these wars whereas others oppose it. This paper analyses operati on desert storm and Afghan war in terms of just war theory. Historically, the just war tradition may be said to commonly evolve between two culturally similar enemies. That is, when an array of values are shared between two warring peoples, we often find that they implicitly or explicitly agree upon limits to their warfare. But when enemies differ greatly because of different religious beliefs, race, or language, and as such they see each other as â€Å"less than human†, war conventions are rarely applied (Mosely). Gulf War took place between two culturally similar countries. Muslims or Arabs in Kuwait and Iraq have same religious beliefs and customs. There are plenty of similarities between Iraqis and Kuwaitis. Under such circumstances, one can definitely conclude that just war theory is definitely applicable to Gulf war. On the other hand, war in Afghanistan is taking place between Christian dominated America and Muslim dominated Taliban or Afghan people. Even though Muslim s and Christians do have a common father in Abraham (Jewism, Islam and Christianity are three Abrahamic religions), their beliefs and customs are entirely different. Christians believe that Jesus the saviour of human kind whereas Muslims believe that Prophet Mohammad is the saviour of humans. In short, Afghan war cannot be included under the just war theory since two culturally different parties are fighting each other here. â€Å"It has been the concern of the majority of just war theorists that the lack of rules to war or any asymmetrical morality between belligerents should be denounced, and that the rules of war should apply to all equally† (Mosely). Saddam’s ambitions to expand Iraq’s territory were resulted in Gulf War. Iraq failed to accept Kuwait as a sovereign state and they tried to conquer it using muscle power. Saddam argued that Kuwait is part of Iraq historically and it should be added to Iraq’s territories. On the other hand, international community was not convinced by these arguments and the result was Gulf War. On the other hand, 9/11 caused war on terror and Afghan war. America started two war fronts; one in Afghanistan and another in Iraq immediately after the 9/11 incident. America believed that Saddam has joined hands with Al Quaid leader Osama to conduct terrorist activities in America. In their opinion, the Taliban dominated Afghanistan was the origin of all

Remembering, feeling, and thinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Remembering, feeling, and thinking - Essay Example The interrelationship among the psychological concepts of motivation, emotion and behavior is important to understand. Human behaviors are always directed towards certain motives and those motives are further propelled by emotion. Human emotion stands in between motivation and the behavior. Emotion, first of all, stems from motivation. A desire to do or achieve something comes from emotion and the success or failure of the same also results in the arousal of emotions – joy or happiness if one is successful and sadness or distress if one fails. The emotions thus aroused make the person show appropriate behaviors that project those emotions. For example, a sad person stops eating and a happy person may start dancing and singing! Sometimes emotion also effects motivation. Often times our goals and ambitions stem from the kind of emotional state one is in. A joyful person might be motivated to spend time in recreational activities while a frustrated person might choose to seclude himself inside closed doors. Let us look at the behavior of John, a high school student who wants to pursue a degree in engineering. His ambition to become an engineer is a motivation and his desperate search for a suitable institution that can provide a degree in engineering is the behavior propelled by his motivation for achievement. This motivation, on the other hand does not appear without emotion. John feels extremely happy when he repairs certain machines like his neighbor’s computer or his old radio and when he makes certain buildings out of plastics or cartoons. He is always driven towards outdoor activities and is obsessed with other clerical jobs and other activities that require dexterous capabilities and mathematical intelligence. Thus such behaviors are always motivated and those motivations are always liked to emotions. II. Theories of Emotion There are four major theories proposed to explain emotions. The first one is The James-Lange Theory. According to this t heory an event causes a physiological arousal and it is only when you interpret the physical response, you experience the resulting emotion (Maddie, 2011). For example a girl walking in dark hears certain sounds of an animal, and her heartbeat rises. She interprets this reaction to be fear. The Cannon-Bard theory claims that â€Å"we feel emotions and experience physiological reactions such as sweating, trembling and muscle tension simultaneously† (Kendra, 2011). For example I see a snake; I feel afraid and begin to tremble. The Schacter-Singer Theory says that two factors are essential for the experience of emotions, high physiological arousal and an emotional interpretation of that arousal. According to the theory, an event causes physiological  arousal  first. You must then identify a reason for this  arousal  and then you are able to experience and label the emotion (Schachter-Singer Theory, 2011). The Lazarus theory builds on the Schechter-Singer theory and propo ses that when an event occurs, a cognitive appraisal is made and based on the results of that appraisal, an emotion and physiological response follow. The most valid theory for me is the Cannon-Bard theory because it acknowledges the fact that the experience of emotion and physiological reaction occurs simultaneously. Moreover it does not assert the need for ‘interpretation’ of emotion, for, emotion is instinctual and a person engrossed in the emotion hardly has a change to ‘interpret’ the same, yet, he feels the emotion. The least valid theory for me is the James-Langue theory. It is not necessary that the physiological arousal must occur first and it is also not necessary to ‘interpret’ the physical reaction for a person to know what emotion he is feeling. Emotions often occur in a subtle form where we notice our physical reaction such as rejoice way after we have felt the emotion. III. Thinking, Intelligence and Creativity Thinking is the pr ocess of making use of mind or the brain to observe, interpret and make sense of the world around us.

Death Penalty Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 4

Death Penalty - Research Paper Example Thereby, death penalty ought to remain legal in the United States owing to the deterrence impact it has on the criminals, the justice it extends to the victims of heinous crimes and their families and the way it prevents the hardcore and repeat offenders from committing more crimes. Death penalty is highly useful because it deters the criminals from committing serious and violent crimes (Banner 219). Any thriving and democratic society needs to maintain the rule of law. Peace and the rule of law are necessary to assure the happiness and well being of the common citizens. It is a practical fact that every society does tend to have individuals and groups who happen to have a violent disposition and a criminal bent of mind. Such people are mostly more prone to committing heinous and rare crimes like murder, rape and acts of aggression. If the courts of law extend soft sentences to such criminals, it is possible that they may commit more serious and rare crimes (Banner 219). This is because a soft sentence tends to give an idea to such criminals that they can commit serious crimes like murder and still can get away with it. In the absence of death penalty, there will be practically nothing that will deter or scare these criminals away from committing violent crimes . The logic is that â€Å"by executing convicted murderers we will deter would-be murderers from killing innocent people (Bedau & Cassell 58) Hence, one important function of the law is to extend such penalties that deter the other criminals from engaging in violent crimes. Thereby, if a murderer is given a death sentence, it sends a message to the other criminals in the society that engaging in violent crimes may cost them their life. Hence, death penalty is a legal provision that has a strong deterrence potential. It stands to be the most appropriate warning to the criminal elements in any society. It would not be wrong to assume that many criminals fall short of

Biochemistry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Biochemistry - Essay Example The conversion of glucose to glycogen, a process of energy storage, is achieved by a number of enzymes, the absence or deficiency of which leads to the GSDs resulting in inborn errors of glycogen metabolism. These disorders arise due to deficiency of enzymes involved in the glyconeogenesis or due to abnormal functioning of the glycogen breakdown enzymes. GSDs are categorized based on the type enzyme deficiency and the tissue affected. The systems involved in glycogen synthesis disorders are the liver and muscle, which are the primary sites of energy storage. GSD Type IV, also known as amylopectinosis, is usually fatal and leads to death by age 4. Some of the clinical symptoms include hepatomegaly, failure to thrive, splenomegaly, cirrhosis and lumbar lordosis. Type IV disorder arises due to deficiency of the glycogen branching enzyme amylo-1,4-1,6 transglucosidase, which leads to the formation of abnormally structured glycogen, having amylase molecules with low solubility, leading to glycogen precipitation in the liver, the heart and other tissues. The condition ultimately leads to early death (Ozen, 2541-53). Type I diabetic patients who are erroneously prescribed too high of an insulin dose in their insulin regimen can present liver disease symptoms similar to those presented in glycogen storage diseases. Explain the biochemical basis for this finding. One of the important functions of insulin is glycogen syn... Insulin regulates the amount of glucose absorbed or released from the cell. The glucose absorbed from the blood is stored in the form of glycogen in the liver. One of the important functions of insulin is glycogen synthesis, brought about by activating the enzyme hexokinase. This in turn, phosphorylates glucose, thus, trapping it within the cell, in the form of energy. Insulin also inhibit the activity of glucose-6-phosphatase and activates phosphofructokinase and glycogen synthase, thus helping the hepatocytes to havest excess glucose in the form of glycogen. But, in the absense of insulin, as in case of type 1 diabetes, glucose circulation in the blood increases and the cells fail to harvest it for energy. In the absence of energy the cells activate the enzymes involved in the breakdown of glycogen (glycogenolysis).Under the conditions of cell starvation triggered by lack of insulin, glucagon, a counter regulatory hormone,is activated, which, again stimulates the process of glycogenolysis in hepatocytes, thus releasing energy. When insulin is administered from an outside source, in excess, (eg: injections), insulin activates the formation of glycogen from glucose and inhibition glycogenolysis. Therefore, in presence of excess insulin, there is a surplus production of glycogen, similar to that of glycogen storage disorders. Also, there is inhibition of glucose-6-phosphate, similar to deficiency of the same as in glycogen storage disorders (Bowen). 3.Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that colonizes the upper gastrointestinal tract in humans and is the causative agent of chronic gastritis, ulcers, and possibly gastric cancer. Knowledge of the intermediary metabolism of this organism would be helpful in developing effective drug