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TASK Writtings
TASK Writtings
First level distributors are also to blame for the waste of thousands of tons of food.
The explanation is even simpler in their case -- more offer means lower prices. We
often see in the news that some companies in many countries are discarding fruits,
vegetables and rice in order to better control the price that they may reach at the
market.
There are several possible actions that can be taken to reduce the waste of food.
Some of these are governmental while others might be taken at the household
level. Some countries such as France are legislating against food waste by imposing
significant fines on supermarket chains if they do not comply with strict regulations.
Additionally, households may be more aware of the problem if governments
conducted targeted advertising campaigns regarding the issue.
However, I would say that fines are not the way to solve this problem. The final
answer needs to involve the education of our children. It is of paramount
importance to educate them in the idea that the production of food is limited and
that they should only buy what is absolutely necessary.
So, what are the causes of poverty in developing countries? It seems to me that we
can identify two principle causes: unfair trading and corruption. In the first place,
many developing countries cannot sell their goods at a fair price because of
restrictions and tariffs. Secondly, corruption is often so widespread in these
countries that it seriously affects their economies. Taken together, these two
problems represent almost impossible obstacles for many countries.
This brings us to the question of what we can do to help poorer countries to help
themselves. It seems to me that there are many things we can do here. In the first
place, we should ensure that money for development is properly spent. This relates
to the point I made earlier about corruption. However, I think we also need to help
developing countries with agricultural and energy programmes. In this way, they
will eventually be able to compete and cooperate with wealthy countries and we
can help each other.
To conclude, in this essay we’ve looked at some of the causes of and solutions to
poverty in third world countries. The problem clearly does not have an easy
solution, but the way I see things is that we are all in the same boat and we will
either sink or swim together. For this reason, both Government and individuals
must do all they can to help those less fortunate than themselves.
1. The Nature of Warfare in the
Late 20th Century
Warfare is a constantly evolving art, it changes from era to era, and in the
20th century, warfare experienced some of its biggest changes in history. The
20th century was a period of unprecedented technological development and
industrialization. As such, warfare evolved a lot from what it was at the begging
of the century. In the late 20thcentury, warfare is distinct in 2 ways; there is an
unprecedented use of technology, and the need for large standing armies is
non-existent. Instead of large standing armies, modern warfare requires small,
elite units which can be deployed in a matter of hours to any location in the
world. To further illustrate my points, I am going to bring up four examples from
recent history which demonstrate the modern nature of warfare. With new
technologies, new types of warfare were created, namely nuclear warfare, and
cyber warfare. These new types of weapons can be hundreds of times more
devastating than any conventional weapons. Special Forces have played an
increasingly important role in warfare. Today, no operation can be successful
without the use of these elite, easily deployable troops. In the late 20 th century,
technological advancements and new tactics have revolutionized the nature of
warfare.
Cyber warfare is a relatively new concept, and only really came around after the
creation of the internet in the late 1960s. Cyber warfare issued more and more
by nations to spy on their enemies, or to disable enemy weapons systems or
power plants. To bring up an example, recently the western world has been
concerned with the rapid development of nuclear technology in Iran. To slow
down Iran’s nuclear development, the US and Israel created a virus called
stuxnet. This virus disabled the power plants in Iran and significantly slowed
down the development on their nuclear technology. Without cyber warfare, the
only way to disable these power plants would be through conventional means,
such as bombs. This shows how cyber warfare is changing the nature of
warfare. Another good example would be the recently-discovered flame virus,
which attacked and infected computers around the Middle East. This virus was
used for espionage, and has been spying on Iran for two years now. Although
no nation has admitted to developing this virus, it was clearly developed by a
nation, and was written by an English-speaking person. The fact that no one
can determine the origin of this virus shows how developed cyber-warfare has
become, and how it is changing the nature of warfare. Countries now are
competing for who can get the upper hand in cyber warfare, because it has
proven to be more effective than conventional means of warfare, and does not
cost as much troops or resources as conventional warfare. Another use for
cyber warfare would be to take out a county’s electric power grid. In 2009,
Russia and China infiltrated the US power grid, and left some malicious
software that could potentially harm the US power grid. China has denied that,
but Russia has released no public statements. Although the US power grid was
not actually attacked, Russia and China could have easily shut it off, causing
mass power outages, which would disrupt the economy and distract the nation
from a conventional attack. There have been instances of cyber attacks which
are still attacks, but have been more humorous in nature. The MI6 hacked into
the Al-Qaida website and changed the recipe for explosives for a recipe for
cupcakes. Humor aside, this shows how cyber warfare can be used by states to
combat terrorism and protect their citizens. There have been a few measures
taken by countries to protect themselves from cyber attacks. Counter measures
include disconnecting the power grid form the internet, and manually catching
and removing viruses which are used for espionage. Cyber warfare is still a
relatively new type of warfare, and has a lot of potential. Although it has not
reached its full potential, cyber warfare is already changing the nature of
warfare as we know it.
There was another famous Special Forces operation, but instead of succeeding
like Operation Entebbe, it failed. This operation is a perfect example of why
countries need to focus on their Special Forces units and why countries need to
adapt to modern warfare. IN 1980, during the Iran revolution, 52 Americans
were taken hostage. In order to attempt to rescue them, the US military devised
Operation Eagle Claw. This operation was inspired by Operation Entebbe, but
was too complex to be properly executed. Instead of being quick and efficient,
the operation was supposed to last 2 nights, and relied on too many factors to
succeed. During the operation, several US aircraft ran out of fuel, and one of
them crashed, resulting in 8 US deaths. The reason of this failure was not the
incompetence of US soldiers, but rather the lack of training provided to their
special forces, the over complexity of the mission, and the fact that the US did
not adapt to the rapidly changing nature of warfare. This proves that the nature
of warfare did indeed shift, because had it been a conventional situation, the US
could have just used conventional means of warfare, but that is no longer the
way in which wars are fought, because the nature of warfare has changed. This
example is meant to illustrate that conventional means of warfare can be
useless against terrorists and the situations which governments often face
today, such as hostage takings and highjackings. These situations did not exist
50 years ago, and are unique to the late 20 th century, demonstrating that the
nature of warfare has changed dramatically, and that conventional armies are
not as important as they used to be.
In its widest sense, it includes all warfare since the "gunpowder revolution" that
marks the start of early modern warfare, but other landmark military
developments have been used instead, including the emphasis of artillery
marked by the Crimean War, the military reliance on railways beginning with
the American Civil War, the launch of the first dreadnought in 1905, or the use
of the machine gun, aircraft, tank, or radio in World War I.[2] In other senses, it
is tied to the introduction of total war, industrial warfare, mechanized warfare,
nuclear warfare,[3] counter-insurgency,[4] or (more recently) the rise of
asymmetric warfare also known as fourth-generation warfare.[5]
Some argue that the changing forms of third generation warfare represents
nothing more than an evolution of earlier technology
Aerial warfare
Aerial warfare is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in
warfare. Aerial warfare includes bombers attacking enemy concentrations or
strategic targets; fighter aircraft battling for control of airspace; attack aircraft
engaging in close air support against ground targets; naval aviation flying
against sea and nearby land targets; gliders, helicopters and other aircraft to
carry airborne forces such as paratroopers; aerial refueling tankers to extend
operation time or range; and military transport aircraft to move cargo and
personnel.
Asymmetric warfare
Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of any organism
(bacteria, virus or other disease-causing organism) or toxin found in nature, as a
weapon of war. It is meant to incapacitate or kill enemy combatants. It may also
be defined as the employment of biological agents to produce casualties in man
or animals and damage to plants or material; or defense against such
employment. Biological warfare involves the intentional release of living
pathogens either in their naturally occurring form, for example the diseased
corpses of animals, or in the form of specific human-modified organisms.
Chemical warfare
Electronic warfare
Land warfare
Ground warfare involves three types of combat units: infantry, armor, and
artillery.
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla fighters gravitate toward weapons which are easily accessible, low in
technology, and low in cost. A typical arsenal of the modern guerrilla would
include the AK-47, RPGs, and Improvised explosive devices. The guerrilla
doctrines' main disadvantage is the inability to access more advanced
equipment due to economic, influence, and accessibility issues. They must rely
on small unit tactics involving hit and run. This situation leads to low intensity
warfare, asymmetrical warfare, and war amongst the people. The rules of
Guerrilla warfare are to fight a little and then to retreat.
Informationised[edit]
Intelligence[edit]
Propaganda
Psychological
Psychological warfare had its beginnings during the campaigns of Genghis Khan
through the allowance of certain civilians of the nations, cities, and villages to
flee said place, spreading terror and fear to neighboring principalities.
Psychological actions have the primary purpose of influencing the opinions,
emotions, attitudes, and behavior of hostile foreign groups in such a way as to
support the achievement of national objectives.
Information
Made possible by the widespread use of the electronic media during World War
II, Information warfare is a kind of warfare where information and attacks on
information and its system are used as a tool of warfare. Some examples of this
type of warfare are electronic "sniffers" which disrupt international fund-
transfer networks as well as the signals of television and radio stations.
Jamming such signals can allow participants in the war to use the stations for a
misinformation campaign.
Naval[edit]
The USS Gettysburg (CG-64) cruiser and USS Enterprise (CVN-65) aircraft
carrier of the United States Navy, 2003
Naval warfare takes place on the high seas (blue water navy). Usually, only
large, powerful nations have competent blue water or deep water navies.
Modern navies primarily use aircraft carriers, submarines, frigates, cruisers,
and destroyers for combat. This provides a versatile array of attacks, capable of
hitting ground targets, air targets, or other seafaring vessels. Most modern
navies also have a large naval aviation contingent, deployed from aircraft
carriers.[dubious – discuss] In World War II, small craft (motor torpedo boats
variously called PT boats, MTBs, MGBs, Schnellboote, or MAS-boats) fought
near shore. This developed in the Vietnam War into riverine warfare (brown
water navy), in intertidal and river areas. Irregular warfare makes this sort of
combat more likely in the future.
Network-centric[edit]
The overall network which enables this strategy in the United States military is
called the Global Information Grid.
New generation[edit]
Nuclear[edit]
Nuclear war is a type of warfare which relies on nuclear weapons. There are two
types of warfare in this category. In a limited nuclear war, a small number of
weapons are used in a tactical exchange aimed primarily at enemy combatants.
In a full-scale nuclear war, large numbers of weapons are used in an attack
aimed at entire countries. This type of warfare would target both combatants
and non-combatants.
Space[edit]
Space warfare is the hypothetical warfare that occurs outside the Earth's
atmosphere. No wars have been fought here yet. The weapons would include
orbital weaponry and space weapons. High value outer space targets would
include satellites and weapon platforms. Notably no real weapons exist in space
yet, though ground-to-space missiles have been successfully tested against
target satellites. As of now, this is purely science fiction.