Summery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Summery - Essay Example In essence, plastics are cheaper, sturdier but non-biodegradable. Meanwhile, paper is biodegradable, organic but expensive to make and recycle. Advocates for both sides continue to argue their cases but everyone agrees that the best way to solve this problem is to BYOB: Bring Your Own Bag. NY did so when the eco-friendly â€Å"I am not a plastic bag† totes made by Anya Hindmarch from UK hit the stores, making BYOB a must-do and must-see by Yankees. It only goes to show that when fashion leads the way, everybody follows. The people of Boac, Marinduque will always remember March 24, 1996. It was the fateful day when a poorly plugged drainage pipe burst and more than three million tons of mine tailings inundated the river. The rising flood spilled over the farms and residential areas causing irreparable damage to their homes, livelihood, source of food, irrigation and water. Many people survived but the Boac River did not. The local community knew who to blame for the tragedy: Marcopper Mining Corp. The villagers hold the company accountable for their irresponsibility and even suspect that it had been doing illegal activities during its operations. With the support of the national government, NGOs and other civil organizations, the community expediently filed a lawsuit against Marcopper Mining Corp. and its major shareholder, Placer Dome Inc., a Canadian firm. Marcopper had been digging for copper only a few years but its parent company, Placer Dome has been mining gold there since 1970. In 1998, it posted profits amounting to 105 million US dollars and was among the top five gold mining industries in the world. Placer Dome owns some 14 mines all over the globe, among them Marcopper Mining. But even with such high acclaims, Placer has been allegedly involved not only causing environmental disasters in the countries of United

Should Parents Know of Increased Alzheimer's risk Essay

Should Parents Know of Increased Alzheimer's risk - Essay Example The answer is quite clear that awareness is very important about this disease in the present time. Psychotic symptoms such as delusions and aberrations have been observed in large percentage of patients suffering from this disease. In fact, it is the presence of these symptoms which can lead to early regimentation. (Tappen R. M. 1998) â€Å"You know, people get frustrated because their loved ones who have Alzheimer's, oh, he doesn't recognize me anymore, how can I recognize this person, if they don't recognize me? They're not the same person.   Well, they are the same person, but they've got a brain disease. And it's not their fault they've got this disease.† --Ron Reagan In the present age, only a negligible number of ordinary people have proper awareness about the Alzheimer’s disease. In general, the people know merely two things about this disease. Firstly, they know that it is an attenuating disease which is incurable. And secondly they know that memory loss is it s common symptom. That is enough information to produce lot of depression among the aging population but a little more awareness would definitely bring some needed relief. Another misconception among the people is that they think that Alzheimer’s disease can only occur in old age. ... However, children and young adults can also experience this disease as a result of number of rare diseases and conditions. For example, in Batten Disease, unfortunately, Alzheimer’ disease can be observed in many facets, many age ranges and in many different aberrations. The intensity ranges from mild to almost extreme of the worst possible. This disease seems very difficult to treat in the world. (Taylor, Richard 2007) Some of the reasons as to why awareness is important for parents about this disease are related to different aspects of the world. If a parent does not know much about Alzheimer’s disease and has it in his genes then it is possible that his/her child would also suffer from this disorder. The possibility of the disease increases further when both the parents are susceptible to the disease. The parents should be aware about the disease so that they would not opt for a child as it would ruin his whole life. Moreover the child may cause increased medical cos ts if he suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Awareness of the parents would help them to treat their children or at least get a check up at an early age so that the deteriorative processes do not end up in the last stage. Timely intervention can be counted as one of the most important factors which can help in the treatment of the disease. Awareness of parents can help to increase this timely intervention and can thus enhance the treatment process of the children suffering from the disease. Awareness of the issue can further help in lowering down the incidence of the disease as it is being prevailing in the world. All these points strongly support the point that parents and other

Summary of a book chapter Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Summary of a book chapter - Assignment Example The chapter focuses on the value system of terrorists and states that terrorists believe that they are fighting against enemy who lack traits and characteristics of human beings. Terrorist even believe that they are elite members of the society and are victims and they chose terrorism as an involuntary response (Combs, 2012, p.56). They even believe that the crimes they commit such as murdering innocent people is a moral act. They even believe that if their victims are closely associated with the enemy then they are even enemies. There are certain common characteristics that all terrorists share. These characteristics include high dedication towards the cause and all of them indulge in a brave act since they face the threat of being harmed (Combs, 2012, p.65). All terrorists lack emotions of regret as well as shame and that is why they kill people. They are very intelligent as they have to collect and analyze information and are involved in sophisticated activities such as living and flying in first class hotels and airlines. They are highly educated as they are able to communicate in various languages such as English language. Individuals become terrorists because they believe that they are the victims and are fighting evil. Joining terrorist groups even provide individuals with a sense of belongingness (Combs, 2012, p.68). They believe that indulging in acts of terrorism is a way to attain revenge against those who have done wrong to people they are associated with. Terrorists in the past were motivated by the aim of attaining social liberty, but now their aim has become quite political. Terrorists in the 21st century are quite away from reality and are quite irrational and that is why they prefer being recognized as prisoners of war (Combs, 2012, p.71). A major reason that drives terrorist activities in the 21st century is that

Analyzing the play Real women have curves and applying critical Essay

Analyzing the play Real women have curves and applying critical thinking and terms - Essay Example But God has selected the woman, not the man, to give protection for the initial nine months to His creative force! This is the common thinking line of Josefina Lopez, in all her literary creations, whether it is a novel or the play. She is part of the problem and she participates in their solutions through literature. The colours may vary, her canvass is the same. Her thinking has something to do with her upbringing in a traditional Mexican household, the history and geography of it where menfolk are invariably served food first, not necessarily the prime items, but the leftovers. It is a herculean effort for the woman to nurture her body, spirit and soul. â€Å"Real Women Have Curves†, is her autobiographical play with a difference. She creates a play that depicts feminist consciousness clubbed with working-class consciousness. She defends womanhood with an approach of sarcasm. She does not pity her, condemn her, but wonders how a woman has to bear with so much pressure, to n urture her body image. The shape of her body is important to her; it is also important to menfolk. The story relates to a young woman who wants to go to college but the family pressurises her to work, obviously to earn. The important issues of oppression grounded on gender, class and ethnicity, coupled with the immigration problems of the Latino community are meaningfully classified in the play. On the whole, the play is a feminist narrative of upward mobility and it is a working class play. Women who wish to achieve success in life need to take Josefina as the model. Her life lets you know how to remain unbeatable in adversaries and triumph in the end. She is a Latina, an utterly traditional community, that puts many hurdles in the path of a progressive woman, and yet she succeeds in breaking out from that set up, and designs her own pattern of life. From the point of view of a reviewer and critic, the characters speaking Spanish may be a problem, but it keeps the authenticity of t he dialogues, for each community and each language has something that is un-translatable, and needs to make meaning in the original form. In brief, â€Å"Real Women Have Curves,† is the ‘biography’ of the Latino community. The author’s Chicana pride triumphs over all odds. In the play immigration has been shown as a persecution the Latino has to undergo and the author identifies the characters with one’s real-life experiences. Coming to the plot of the play proper, â€Å"Real Women Have Curves†, highlights the relationship between five Latina women. When women from common background join together, they unknowingly form a ‘union’ (not in the trade union sense of the term). In that association they share their sorrows and joy, mostly sorrows, as they belong to poor immigrant families. The story relates to the year 1987, when the problem of immigrants is the highly discussed in the American sociological and political circles. One of the five women, Ana is ambitious, she is a fresh high school graduate, and she has great dreams to achieve success in life, that too as a writer. A writer, with the writing skills and passion to transform the society, is able to achieve something tangible to the ethnic group to which she belongs. This seems to be the agenda of Ana. In the play under review she aims to achieve her objectives by describing the physical beauty of the multi-generational families, who have achieved prosperity as participants in the American Dream. She has no ambiguities or fear about

Legislation and common law responsibilities Essay

Legislation and common law responsibilities - Essay Example The responsible thing to do is to report the incident to my superior right away and to administer the appropriate first aid. The centre’s physician will be called upon to check if Isabella will suffer ill consequences of her ingestion of the milkshake, which has dairy products she is allergic to. Isabella’s parents will also be informed of the incident and the action taken to repair the damage, if any. Isabella’s family will be asked to complete a complaint form and raise the concern with the center director. The meeting is documented. Then the side of the concerned staff member the parent is complaining about is heard by the director, and likewise documented. Then the director acts as an arbiter when she calls a meeting for the parents and the staff concerned, in which the discussion is likewise documented. The director will try to arrange for a settlement of the complaint. However, if the complainant remains unsatisfied, then they could take it up to the manage ment committee. Uncle Paul may be a close relative of Eleni but since he is not listed as an authorized person to collect Eleni from the center, he is restricted from taking her without the permission of Natalie, Eleni’s mother. To validate his claim, Natalie must be contacted to verify if indeed she has given him permission to take Eleni to the party they are supposed to attend and remind her to inform the center next time an unauthorized person is given permission is to pick up Eleni to prevent any incidences of unnecessary waiting.

Pollution in China Essay Example for Free

Pollution in China Essay Introduction China, with its rapid industrialisation seems to have paid its price by witnessing steeply rising levels of pollution. With millions of largely unregulated industries, the vast rivers, streams and lakes have become easy avenues for chemical, textile and tanning industries to discharge their toxic contents at will. The paper discusses the pollution in China, its impact on the environment and how it has affected the lives of people.   An Overview of Pollution in China   A report by the World Bank (China 2007) has pointed out that China is facing increased levels of pollution that has kept pace with the rising industrialisation of rural China. The report points out that the use of energy in China has went up by 70 % between 2000 and 2005. The use of coal has also increased by 75% and this has created a corresponding increase in the air pollution. The report points out that China’s emissions of SO2 and soot were respectively 42 percent and 11 percent higher making it the largest polluter in the world. The report also points out that pollution of water, rivers, lakes has also increased to alarming levels. Water pollution is also a cause for serious concern and during 2001 and 2005, about 54 percent of the seven main rivers in China contained water deemed unsafe for human consumption. The report points out that the economic burden of premature mortality and morbidity due to air pollution was157.3 billion Yuan in 2003, or 1.16 percent of by WHO. The report suggests that pollution costs China more than 147 billion Yuan a year in the form of increased health related costs. A report from CBS news says â€Å"Chinas air pollution seems like a problem just for that country, think again. The stuff spewing out in China has now been detected in the United States, and some suspect its beginning to affect the U.S. climate Chinas far-reaching dust and soot cloud travelling to the West Coast hits Hawaii first, and that may be why temperatures in Hawaii are rising. A lot of early-computer modelling of Chinese pollutions effects on the global climate is turning out to be just plain wrong. This is why a massive new study with ground and air monitoring across Asia starts next year† (Yinchaun, 31 March 2000). Following table shows the air quality in China Table 1. Trends in Air Quality in China’s Cities (%) (China, 2007) The following table shows the distribution of particulate matter in air Table 2. Distribution of PM10 and SO2 Levels in 341 Cities, 2003 and 2004 (China, 2007)   The list of pollutants that infect China re provided in the following table. Table 4. List of major pollutants and their categories (China, 2007)   Clare (Clare D’Souza, 2002) reports that â€Å"Energy consumption, especially coal consumption, is the main source of air pollutants such as particles, SO2, NOx, and CO in most cities of China. As the primary energy source, coal has accounted for about 65 to 70 percent (China Statistical Yearbook 2004) of total energy consumption in recent years, which has caused many environmental and human health problems. Crude oil consumption has been increasing because of the rapid expansion of the motor vehicle fleet in many cities. In recent years, epidemiological studies conducted around the world have demonstrated that there are close associations between air pollution and health outcomes. PM10 and SO2 are chosen in many studies as the indicative pollutants for evaluating the health effects of ambient air pollution. Although the mechanisms are not fully understood, epidemiological evidence suggests that outdoor air pollution is a contributing cause of morbidity and mortality. Epidemiological studies have found consistent and coherent associations between air pollution and various outcomes, including respiratory symptoms, reduced lung function, chronic bronchitis, and mortality†. The author suggests that industry â€Å"size† is controversial with respect to environmental issues. In some studies large enterprises have been deemed to be more pollution intensive in comparison with small enterprises. The author reports that small enterprises as being more environmentally friendly due to their size and found small plants to be far more pollution intensive because they are difficult and costly to regulate. Empirical research has suggested that enterprise size is inversely correlated with emissions intensity in developing countries. World Bank and other institutions have found that small enterprises are pollution intensive (Mani, 1997).   Karshenas (1992 author has pointed that the Winter’s (model of business and the environment may be a more appropriate way of approaching the problem. According to the author, â€Å"enterprises may not have mastered perfection in terms of ecological sustainability but enterprises can make a systematic assessment of the areas where improvements can be introduced. Although Winter goes beyond traditional management theory, the model emphasizes ecologically sound processes and practices right throughout a firm, from company policy, employee relations, supply chain, public relations and marketing. A firm should consider prevention, reduction, recycling and disposal of wastes throughout its operations. They should use sustainable inputs in environmentally friendly manufacturing processes that result in greener outputs (i.e. maintaining environmentally friendly processes for a product from cradle to grave). This would prove to be profitable, provided that the end users, be they industry or consumers, are committed to using green products. Ideally, enterprises should take control of their own operational structure by viewing cleaner manufacturing as a competitive and strategic challenge, they should resort to manufacturing life-cycle analysis, environmental auditing and environmental reporting. The reality is that an enterprise cannot consider making a product ecologically sound without considering how its raw material acquisition, development, manufacturing, distribution, sales and disposal systems impact on the environment. The author suggests that has gone one step further by stating that managers in a green venture start from a different mindset. They recognise that becoming green is an opportunity to establish a unique position in a niche market or, by being able to produce a higher value product with fewer resources, to gain a competitive advantage. He proposed a trisect by which sustainable business is based on the concept of balancing ecological, economic and social factors†..   Action to fight pollution   The government of China has redoubled its efforts in fighting pollution and has organized task forces at the local levels. The structure is shown in the following figure. Figure 1. Main Government Partners in the Project   The report has identified a number of measures to fight pollution and these are displayed in the following table. Table 4. Sectors and Pollutants Included in the CECM (China, 2007) The team has implemented certain steps to fight the pollution and these are illustrated in the following figure.   Figure 2. Flow Chart for Estimating the Economic Cost of Pollution (China, 2007)   The following steps have been proposed: Step 1: Identify the pollution factors, polluted area, and related conditions. Step 2: Determine affected endpoints and establish dose-response relationships for pollution damage. Step 3: Estimate population (or other) exposures in polluted areas. Step 4: Estimate physical impacts from pollution using information from steps 2 and 3. Step 5: Convert pollution impacts in physical terms to pollution costs in monetary terms. Indiscreet reaction by the Chinese government Wang (Wang Xiangwei. 4 Jun 4, 2007) reports that the Chinese government is paranoid about maintaining a good image about China, for fears that it may hurt its business stakes. The author reports that the most convenient way for China to control pollution is by jailing activists who point out the problems of pollution. The author reports about the village of Wuxi and how it was affected by pollution. For hundreds of years, Wuxi , on the edge of Tai Lake, was the envy of the nation. In the heart of the Yangtze River delta and known as the land of fish and rice, it was bestowed with fertile land and abundant waterways, and was also home to famous poets, painters and industrialists. Since recently however, the city has become a stinking hell for its five million residents as a blue-green algal bloom from the heavily polluted lake contaminated the citys tap water, making it foul-smelling and undrinkable. After scrambling for six days with emergency measures, Wuxi officials said yesterday the tap water was drinkable. But the residents, who have relied on bottled water for drinking and cooking, have every reason to be suspicious. Xinhua has reported that after the usual cleaning aids such as activated carbon failed to remove the odour, the city adopted what Mayor Mao Xiaoping called a bold move by pouring huge amounts of potassium permanganate (Condys crystals) into water-intake points. This allowed the strong oxidising agent to remove foul-smelling matter from the pipes. But Xinhua failed to explain that potassium permanganate is hazardous and can be a health risk. As the Wuxi officials brazenly claimed credit for winning the battle against the water crisis, none of them yet had the decency to apologise to the suffering residents. All of them have blamed factors beyond their control higher- than-normal temperatures that helped to foster the growth of the algae, a lack of rain and favourable wind conditions, and the lowest water level in the lake in five decades. In fact, the fundamental cause of the crisis is the lakes heavy pollution as several mainland environmentalists have repeatedly warned the authorities in the past decade. Wu Lihong, 39, is one of them. He has spent large sums of his own money over the past 16 years collecting evidence of pollution at Tai Lake, the mainlands thirdlargest freshwater lake, and petitioning the local authorities to shut down the polluters. Now, with a water crisis on its hands, one would imagine any government that claims to put the people first would give Wu a medal of honour and make him a hero. Instead, Wu, known as the Tai Lake anti-pollution warrior in overseas media, is languishing in jail and awaiting trial on June 12 on trumped-up charges of blackmail. A farmer turned businessman who grew up in Zhoutie town in Yixing a small, booming industrial city under the jurisdiction of Wuxi Wu witnessed the lake turn into a cesspit. He then made it a personal crusade to petition authorities to shut down more than 2,000 chemical factories in Yixing that spewed toxic pollutants into the lake every day. By passing the local bureaucracy and filing reports to higher- level government officials has led to limited success he is welcomed, even liked by many central government officials and national media in Beijing. In 2005, he was chosen as one of mainlands top 10 environmentalists and honoured at a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People. But he incurred the wrath of local officials and has been constantly harassed by local policemen, officials and thugs. He was arrested again in April on charges of blackmail after the local officials set a trap for him. They offered him 40,000 yuan for a mission to attract investment from other mainland cities, and then laid charges of blackmailing the authorities. His lawyer, Zhu Xiaoyan , said that Wu had told her that he was whipped while in custody, and she was not allowed to see him until more than six weeks after his arrest. Like Gao Yaojie , a retired Henan doctor who refused to keep quiet about Aids, Wu has refused to stand down despite the threat of jail. The mainland leadership should learn from the fiasco of trying to muzzle Ms Gao and release Wu immediately.(Wang Xiangwei. 4 Jun 4, 2007).   Conclusion Pollution in China has assumed the proportion of an epidemic with wide ramifications on the health of the people, the environment, air and water. The paper has presented discussed various aspects of the problem and presented statistics to show the extent of pollution. Certain recommendations have also been made so that the pollution could be averted and reduced to some extent. References China, 2007. Cost of Pollution in China. Retrieved 18 January 2008 from www.worldbank.org/eapenvironment. Clare D’Souza, 2002. The nexus between industrialization and environment. Journal of Environmental Management and Health. Volume 13 Number 1 2002 pp. 80-97 Karshenas, M (1992), Environment development and employment: some conceptual issues, in Bhalla, A.S (Eds),Environment Development and Employment, WEP Study, ILO, Geneva, Mani, M, Pargal, S, Huq, M (1997), Does environmental regulation determine the location of new manufacturing?, World Bank, Washington, DC, Policy Research Working Paper Wang Xiangwei. 4 Jun 4, 2007. Release the man who first raised the alarm about Tai Lakes pollution China Briefing. South China Morning Post. Hong Kong. P. 5 Xinhua, 26 December 2006. Chinas Energy Conditions and Policies. Xinhua News Agency CEIS. p: 1 Yinchaun. 31 March 2000. A Global Problem: Chinas Pollution. Retrieved 18 January 2008 from http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/03/31/archive/main178697.shtml

The Middle East During The Cold War

The Middle East During The Cold War The impact of the rivalry between Soviet Union and United States in the Cold War distorted internal politics and exacerbated or complicated regional conflicts. Indeed, the grafting of the USA/USSR competition over pre-existing Middle Eastern rivalries in several cases intensified them. At the same time, though, and in some cases, the Middle Eastern political à ©lites themselves made use of the Cold War to pursue their own interests of hegemony, security or colonial emancipation. Following Khalidi (2009) in assuming that during the Cold War the level of penetration of the Soviet and American influence was proportional to the degree of the strategic importance of the region, I will first discuss the strategic and geopolitical features of the Middle East. Secondly, I will describe some significant historical events, in order to show how the Cold War logic affected the area and how it shaped the regions political reality, both from a regional and a domestic point of view. The cold War and the Middle East The Cold War dominated world politics from the end of the WW2 to the collapse of Soviet Union. On 5 March 1946, when Churchill pronounced its famous speech at Westminster University, in Fulton, Missouri, describing Europe as divided by an iron curtain, with eastern Europe subjected to the Soviet sphere and the West under American influence, the Cold War was already on going. For more than forty years, superpowers competed ideologically, militarily, technologically and diplomatically. The effects of the rivalry extended all over the World, generating high degree of polarization and aggravating pre-existing conflicts. Although there were no wars fought directly by the two superpowers, proxy confrontations occurred in Southeast Asia, Central America, the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East. The Middle East was a primary area of contention (Khalidi, 2009). Since WWII, superpowers were aware of its importance, in terms of its strategic geographic location and its vast oilfields and gas deposits. In fact, from a geopolitical point of view, the region lays at the junction of three continents, immediately south to the border of Russia and the Caucasus and it is surrounded by four major seas, namely the Mediterranean, the Black and the Caspian Sea and the Indian Ocean. Before the end of the war, both United States and Soviet Union were already strategically interested in the Middle Easts oil reserve. In fact, not only at the time were the great powers the Worlds major oil producers (Khalidi, 2009), but also the war made them increasingly aware of the strategic role oil had acquired in warfare. Their motorised forces, in fact, were crucially dependent on oil for their propulsion, as were their navies and air forces (Khalidi, 2009). Consequentially, they become intensely concer ned about the risk of their supplies being denied by their enemies and about preserving them. Nonetheless, the regions importance in terms of military strategy and oil supply further established throughout the Cold War. In the late 1950s and until the Cuban missiles crisis of 1962, American missiles launching submarines were based in Turkey; in the 1960s and for about a decade, when a longer range missiles technology became available, American submarines were in Spain, with Soviet antisubmarine naval forces and air units based in Egypt and Turkey. During the 1970s, the military and strategic territorial concern of both powers moved to the Arab Peninsula and the region bordering the Indian Ocean, where the new generation American missiles launching submarines were positioned (Khalid, 2009). Anyway, in the aftermath of the WWII, United States and Soviet Union were already militarily and diplomatically engaged in the region, respectively in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran, and Iranian Azerbaijan and Kurdistan. The Middle East, thus, became a major theatre of bitter rivalries between the great powers, the effects of which would deeply influence and shape its politics and historical dynamics. Conflicts, alliances, nuclear threats and the complex events which occurred in the Middle East during the Cold War were determined by the following underlying forces: fear of the superpowers of being excluded from the control over the region; their attempt to replace Britains power in the Middle East; anti-colonialism and the struggle of Middle Eastern states for the emancipation, which led to their alliances with the superpowers; the emergence of Arab nationalism and the diffusion of the communist ideology. Ideology, indeed, played a fundamental role. It was adopted both in terms of appeal made to potential allies and in terms of economic, political and social models they offered to them (Halliday in Sayigh and Shlaim, 1997). One of the events which reveal the pervasive effects of the international competition in the Region is The Arab cold war of 1958-1970, as Malcolm H. Kerr (1965) has called it. In the aftermath of the Suez crisis, in which both superpowers have supported Egypt and the Arab states against Israel, French and Britain, the pre-war Saudi-American relationship was cemented by the Eisenhower Doctrine and Saudi adherence to it. In his famous speech of January 1957, Eisenhower admitted the strategic importance of the area and denounced the Communist threat in the Middle East and Soviet Unions interest in power politics, which have become clearer with its involvement in the Suez crisis. Soviet political, economic and military aids were depicted by President Eisenhower as International Communisms instruments of domination (Eisenhower, 1957), apparently harmless means to manipulate local instability for Soviet power-purpose. Thus, he authorized the employment of the armed forces of the United Sta tes to secure and protect the territorial integrity and political independence of such nations, requesting such aid, against overt armed aggression from any nation controlled by International Communism (Eisenhower, 1957). The Saudi-American relation exacerbated Saudi relations with Nassers Egypt, a former non-aligned state which was moving closer to the Soviet Union. At the same time a heterogeneous agglomerate of political forces supported by the Soviet Union was formed, including not only communist and radical parties, but also nationalist, pan-Arab, anti-colonialist and bourgeois-democratic groups. In order to balance the secular and radical wave of Arab regimes, as Khalidi (2009) pointed out, Saudi Arabia and its ally United States adopted Islam and religious propaganda as ideological counter-weapon. In this way, Islam became a crucial tool of the American intelligence during the Cold War. The result was a high degree of polarization in the Region, with the Soviet Union aligned with authoritarian nationalist regimes and USA supporting absolute monarchies in Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Arab Gulf States and authoritative regimes in Pakistan, Jordan, Tunisia and Morocco. Another instance of the superpowers influence over regional politics in the Middle East is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Although the origin of the conflict has little to do with superpowers rivalry (Halliday, the Cold War competition generated polarization around the issue, fuelling arms race and leading several times to the risk of a nuclear strike. In the first phase of Israel life, namely from its birth in 1948 to the Suez Crisis of 1956, superpowers competed in supporting Israel. Polarization occurred after 1956, with USA supporting Israel and Soviet Union supporting Arab States. The competition took place in terms of armaments supply and economic aids, with the stakes escalating and culminating with the 1968-1970 and the 1973 wars, when Washington declared nuclear alert for the last time in the history of the Cold War. Internally, cold war rivalries distorted economic decisions, domestic policies, social, military and political balances, with the superpowers being responsible of or supporting coups and internal rebellions (Khalidi, 2009). Religion and ideology have been instrumentalised in order to pursuit the Cold War logic of balance of power, with some impacts also on the growth of democracy. Indeed, there was no stress by the United States to promote democracy or Human rights in the area. USA itself covered or supported actions to subvert Middle Eastern democracies such as the American-Britishs coup in Iran, which brought down the elected Mossadeq government and reinstalled the autocratic Mohammad Reza Shah in 1953. This behaviour was coherent with the American security tasks to preserve the Middle East from Communism and export the capitalist logic of free market; tasks which could be effectively pursued by aligning with the wealthy and conservative local elites. Soviet Union, instead, work ed attentively to encourage the development of socialism and distributive logic in the area, trying to appeal to the working classes and local communist parties (Khalidi, 2009). An instance of the pervasive effect of rivalry at the domestic level is the case of Iran. Due to geographical contiguity, Iran felt continuously menaced by the Soviet Union. In the aftermath of the war, though, communism was not perceived by the à ©lites as good option for the development of the country. Thus, at the beginning of the Cold War, United States security interests, coincided with the Iranian ones (). US supported Shah, whose conservative government led to absolutism, corruption and to political stagnation, which, combined with fast modernization and social disruption, contributed to the rise of the Islamic Revolution. USSR also played a role in undermining the power of the Shah. As Rubinstein tells us, although Soviet Union did not directly interfere in the fall of the Shah, communist agents played an important role in spreading discontent in the Iranian oilfields, contributing to the economic paralysis, which undermined the pro-American government. However, concerning the case of Iran, two considerations must be done, which, to different extents, could be applied to several other cases in the region. First, the Cold War did not represent the first case of influence and penetration by a hegemonic power in Persia. In fact, for example, both Russia and Britain had great security and economic interest in the Persian Gulf and intervened several times in the country, both militarily and not. In 1907, in order to balance their influence, the two states agreed to divide Iran; 1942, unsatisfied of its neutrality, they agreed to invade it. Secondly, not only the rivalry logic diverted Iranian domestic policy, but also Iranian (and not only) à ©lites made use of the Cold War and of USA support in order to pursue their security goals and keep itself independent from the Soviet threat, which, as previous events show, had worried them long before the beginning of the USA/USSR competition. Finally, as Halliday (1997) pointed out, the Cold War competition had also another role in the region. It worked as a distraction, diverting attention from domestic problems, which could otherwise be earlier observed and solved. What emerged from the end of the competition and the victory of the West, thus, is just a not distorted and more grasping picture of the region and its pre-existent complexities. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1957eisenhowerdoctrine.html (Eisenhower doctrine)