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preserving-ferretbrain · 6 years ago

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Iron Man's Morality

by Damien F

Friday, 09 May 2008Damien F trys to figure out Iron Man's sense of right and wrong.~

This month saw the synthesised superhero Iron Man join the ever-increasing canon of Marvel characters adapted for the screen. Played Robert Downey Jr, and directed by Jon Favreau (who appears onscreen as some sort of unacknowledged personal assistant),

Iron Man refreshes Marvel's old metal-clad, commie-bashing trailblazer, who unknown but to a select few (which includes almost everyone. Iron Man has to be the least secret secret identity in the history of comic-books) is billionaire industrialist and genius arms manufacturer Tony Stark.

The best that can be said about this film is that it's not awful, raising it above the likes of Daredevil,The Fantastic Four and The Punisher, among others. It's a largely competent, if silly, two hours of Hollywood entertainment, and as the first blockbuster event-movie of the summer, it inspires hope that this season's offerings will be a significant improvement over last year's dreadful showing.

However, just as it avoids sinking to the lowest levels for this kind of film, it fails to hit the heights it aspires to. It lacks the intelligence and social consciousness that marked Batman Beyond and the X-Men series, as well as the sense of humanity that made the Spider-Man films essential for fans and newcomers alike.

Seemingly aware of this, Favreau has tried to inject Iron Man with another attribute: morality. The story, admirably faithful to the comic's origins, tells us of the playboy Stark who fails to recognise the consequences of his actions. Be they the friends left stranded at an award ceremony held in his honour while he parties with floozies at a Las Vegas casino, or the innocents killed by the weapons he produces. As he explains to a hostile reporter (shortly before bedding her), his products are essential in maintaining a global balance of power, which ultimately serves to save lives. He has a change of heart, however, when he is captured by terrorists in Afghanistan while displaying the latest Stark Industries weapon the "Jericho" to military officials. Here he sees the true effect his weapons are having on the world, as the terrorists are armed with his company's products. They demand he builds for them their own Jericho. Instead Tony builds an electric-powered suit of armour for himself under their noses and makes good his escape. Afterwards, vowing to protect the people put in harms way by his weaponry, he fashions a more sophisticated, stylish version of the suit and becomes Iron Man, flying around the world at super-sonic speed destroying the militias armed with Stark Industry weapons.

Unfortunately, his morality becomes the film's most critical malfunction. The Iron Man suit is armed with all manner of guns to rocket launchers, and Tony expresses no qualms about killing those who apparently deserve being killed. Effectively, it's a weapon itself, and we're expected to accept that its presence makes the world safer when the sale of Jericho missiles represents such a threat? Perhaps the answer to this lies in who controls the weapons. Where as Stark missiles were sold on a free market, the Iron Man suit is owed and operated by nobody but Tony. However, just as he was naive to believe his weapons would only be used by forces interested in stabilising world peace, it transpires that Tony can't protect the technology for the suit falling into the wrong hands. The issue of a central a source of control of power is also belied by a scene where Iron Man confronts a group attacking an unidentified Middle-Eastern village. After killing the foot-soldiers, he delivers their leader to the villagers and invites them to do what they like with him before flying away and leaving them at it. We jump from highly central military control to mob justice in a single breath.

The confused nature of the films morality is not helped by its generic look at international conflicts. We are told that Tony is kidnapped in Afghanistan, but the true aims of his kidnappers are never fully explained. We can't write them off as the Taliban, as they seem to be a loose alliance of terrorists from all over the world. Following this the film alludes to ethnic-cleansing of regions by the same group, but we are never told why. The Marvel comics have rarely strayed from addressing real-life events such as Northern Ireland or 9/11 (the Marvel superheroes are currently being drafted to the image of the UN). These are usually discussed in a highly superficial way, but it's admirable that they have the nerve to discuss them at all. For a film that seeks to address the affects of Western military involvement in the developing world, it would have been refreshing if they referred directly to the arming of real-life militias, such as the Taliban by Western governments rather than just gutlessly allude to it.

It should be said, however, that one real-life conflict does get a look in. We are given numerous references to World War Two, as we are repeatedly told how Tony's father worked on the Manhattan Project. Presumably the building of the atomic bomb is meant to serve as a metaphor for the construction of a hyper-powered suit of armour. Prior to his kidnapping, Tony tells us that the ideal weapon is not one you never have to use but one you only have to use once. The allusion to the atomic bomb is clear. The trouble with this is that Tony is never asked to consider if the bomb was a mistake. For all the people who mention his father's role in the project, nobody asks if he regretted this or stood by the project. An internal debate over the true nature of nuclear weapons, be they war at its most corrupt and evil or the single stabilising factor in conflicts between super-states, might have serve to address the flaws in the films muddied morality. As it stands, this is just a wasted opportunity.

For those interested in seeing this film, these flaws should not dissuade you. Fans of the comics can rejoice the film's faithfulness to its source material. They even manage to fit in Iron Man's original clunky, aesthetically displeasing armour. Praise can also be bestowed on Downey's performance as Tony Stark. A few eyebrows were raised when the decision to give him the role was announced, as it was doubted the former wild-boy could handle a leading role on such a major production, and his physic could hardly be described as super-powered. However, I suspect fans were delighted with the casting, as his hell-raising antics were suitably in tune with the charismatic Stark. On screen, the choice seems inspired. Jeff Bridges also has a ball as the villain Ironmonger. However, Gwyneth Paltrow is simply annoying as the love interest Pepper Potts. And then there's that bloody reporter, who keeps turning up like a crazed stalker ex-girlfriend.

The special effects for the suit are a joy to watch, but the action sequences lack a required energy. Watching metallic men fight serves only to remind us how much more fun last year's Transformers was. Overall, Iron Man is far from essential, but enjoyable enough if you do give it a chance. I just wish they figured out the sermon before taking to the alter.

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Arthur B

at 13:15 on 2008-05-09The thing is, Tony Stark is basically a neo-con (witness his role in the recent

Civil War

storyline, which I have been glancing at from afar and tutting at), or rather a comic book writer's vision of a neo-con, so it's probably no surprise that his moral agenda is actually kind of silly and incoherent. From what you say, the film seems to bear this out. Before he's kidnapped he's a pre-9/11 neo-con, selling weapons to the world in the name of an American-dominated balance of terror. Then he has his own personal 9/11 experience, and realises that he can't let proxies do all the work, but has to go out into the world and kick ass all by himself, like George Bush rustlin' up a posse and ridin' out into Afghanistan (briefly) before tackling Iraq. The incoherent presentation of the enemy only matches the incoherent presentation of Terrorism by the Bush administration: are terrorists weak lunatics living in caves, or are they a vast international conspiracy devoted to taking over the world and imposing a global Caliphate? Are we in Iraq to fight terrorists or are we there to allow the Iraqis to choose the government they actually want (which might perhaps include a few terrorists)?

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Jamie Johnston

at 22:34 on 2008-05-21I read this with interest, having a couple of days ago been coaxed into going to see the film with a friend. I agree that it's not a terribly morally sophisticated film, and one might have wished for a bit more exploration of interesting problems. But I think there are a few things to say in its defence.

First, there's a bit of a suggestion here that the film is internally contradictory in that both Iron Man and the film itself appear to espouse a certain moral outlook but Iron Man then behaves in a way inconsistent with this outlook and the film appears to endorse this behaviour. There is an element of this, but not a great deal, I'd suggest.

For example, Damien says that "[t]he Iron Man suit is armed with all manner of guns to rocket launchers, and Tony expresses no qualms about killing those who apparently deserve being killed." We need to distinguish between the two suits. The first one is certainly pretty heavily armed, and he does indeed use it to injure and kill people; but I'd say that's reasonably consistent and plausible in the context of the film as a whole, for several reasons. First, the materials from which he constructs this first suit are themselves armaments of various kinds, and the nature of the materials in such cases may tend to dictate the nature of the final product. Secondly, his main objective at this point is to escape from heavily armed captors who he reasonably believes intend to kill him, and even if we objectively don't accept that the life of one American millionaire is worth more than the lives of several dozen Afghan terrorists we can be reasonably forgiving if he takes the attitude that it's them or him and he knows which option he prefers. Thirdly, he hasn't at this stage had his full-blown epiphany, which seems only to occur with the death of the chap who helped him build the suit. So even if his behaviour at this point isn't especially moral it's at least not altogether hypocritical.

When it comes to the second suit, the criticism is much more deserved, but I would point out that the film makes some sort of attempt to deal with the problem. It's made clear that the initial idea is to make a suit that enables the wearer to fly, and that's it. What later turns out to be the main weapon is originally meant to be a flight-stabilizer, as we're told quite explicitly. He only conceives of using them destructively when, already in a state of considerable frustration, he discovers that his company is still deliberately selling weapons to terrorists. At this point he sets off to visit a terrorist camp and destroy said weapons. Arriving, he does a pretty reasonable job of destroying the artillery without undue injury to the terrorists themselves. When he finds civilians being held at gun-point he does then start killing off terrorists, but again that comes comfortably within what appear to be the film's moral rules since it's a necessary means of protecting innocent people. Where it really does fall down is the fact that he kills the hostage-takers with little shoulder-mounted rockety things that have no obvious flight-related function and must presumably have been intended as weapons when Stark designed the suit. Although that's still some distance from the suit being "armed with all manner of guns to rocket launchers", it still kind of undermines the 'it's only meant to fly' defence. But I still think it's worth noting that the film-makers have at least bothered to put the 'it's only meant to fly' defence in there in the first place, which shows some awareness of the problem of Stark looking self-contradictory.

There also seem to be an implication that the film is unclear or incoherent about what its moral stance is. Again I'm not sure that this is entirely deserved. It's possible to set out in fairly straightforward terms what the moral rules in the film seem to be:

- the USA is good;

- terrorists are bad;

- killing terrorists is okay, at least when they pose a real and moderately imminent threat to civilians and / or Americans;

- killing civilians is not okay;

- killing Americans is not okay unless they are evil super-villains;

- selling weapons to terrorists is bad;

- selling weapons to the US government is probably okay in principle but only with proper controls and mechanisms of accountability to ensure the weapons are used for 'good' ends (such as killing terrorists) and don't end up in the hands of terrorists.

Those rules probably accord pretty well with what a lot of Americans believe, and Iron Man's behaviour in the film by and large follows those rules. They even accommodate Stark facilitating the probably lynching of the bearded terrorist leader (which of course is a pretty close analogy for letting the Iraqis hang the not-wholly-dissimilar-looking Saddam), who is after all a terrorist. If it looks to us as though Stark's failing to live up to his new-found pacifism, it's because he's actually not a pacifist, and never says he is. We make that assumption because it's the most obvious explanation to an audience of arty young British thinking people for a maker and seller of weapons suddenly stopping making and selling weapons; but his conversion is actually a much more limited one that probably makes a lot more sense to the film's target audience.

Of course that brings us straight to what I think is Damien's main point, which is that it's rather disappointing that the film, having decided to ask questions about the arms-trade, comes up with such mainstream American answers without even exploring any other options with any sort of seriousness. That's absolutely right. But even here I'd raise a very partial defence by saying that we may be asking a bit much of the film given what it is. It doesn't tell us what the terrorists' aims are (well, actually it does tell us what their immediate aims are: they've been hired by Stane to kill Stark but when they find out who Stark is they decide he's worth more than what they've been paid and so they decide to force him to build them a big rocket; but it doesn't tell us about the over-all political cause to which this is, as it were, a side-quest). But if it did, wouldn't it then risk becoming a film about "is it right to sell weapons to these particular people in view of their political agenda?" rather than "is it right to sell weapons to terrorists in general?" And it's true that it doesn't engage very meaningfully with the point about the Manhattan project (though I must point out that Stark himself does at one point say he wishes he'd asked his father how he felt about his work). But then again wouldn't any remotely serious examination of the ethics of the atomic bomb be such a big subject as to entirely hijack a superhero action movie and turn it into something quite different?

Again, I don't want to say that the film isn't rather superficial in its treatment of moral questions and rather banal and unchallenging in its answers to those questions. It is. But at least it does (1) show a very limited awareness that the questions exist, (2) come up with a reasonably coherent (if irritatingly Bush-compatible) moral framework, and (3) make some effort to make sense of the apparent paradox of a chap using weapons-technology to destroy weapons. I'm not really sure it could have done much more while still being a superhero block-buster, just like Juno couldn't really do justice to the question of abortion while still being a cute romantic / tennage-pregnancy comedy. X-Men can do more because it does it by metaphor (mutant = black / gay / foreign) and therefore doesn't have to engage with the complex details of real situations. Spider-Man can do more because it concentrates on character and issues that occur on the ordinary human level rather than the social or political level. I'm not sure that Iron Man, given what it was, could really have done much better than it did.

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Dan H

at 09:34 on 2008-05-23Jamie pretty much sums up everything I was going to say about this (although I've not seen the film, I don't see anything inherently contradictory about "it's okay to sell weapons to some people but not others" - it's the same "contradiction" you get in pretty much all movies, books, or whatever with a strong action element. Good Guys pretty much always kill a whole mess o' folks).

What I actually wanted to say was that this reminds me of something a friend of mine once said about

Batman Begins

- on the one level it's trying to be a serious exploration of the nature of fear, but ultimately it's a movie about a guy who dresses up as a bat and fights crime. I think the simple fact is that superhero movies have to work with the themes which their frequently ludicrous premises allow.

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Wardog

at 16:37 on 2008-05-23Mmmm...I'm almost curious now, thanks to Damien and Jamie, but Iron Man has never really appealed to my imagination. I don't know, although I can get behind a man who wants to dress a bat and fight crime, I can't work up the enthusiasm for a guy who makes himself a robot-suit and blows up terrorists.

(I feel terrible - Jamie and Dan and Arthur have said all these insightful things and I've just made this pointlessly frivolous observation)

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Damien F

at 11:18 on 2008-05-27Jamie, I see where you're coming from. Your points on the first suit are spot on, but to be honest I really wasn't considering the first suit when writing the piece. Also, I suppose it's true it does come up with a Bush-flavoured morality (which is a trend I've noticed running through the comics for many years now). Stark arms terrorists and then takes it upon himself to disarm them. The problem I have with this is that it simply ignores the outcomes of these actions, in a pretty literal scenes. Look at your liking of leaving the beardy terrorist to civilians to the lynch-mob "justice" handed down to Saddam (which is something I admit I didn't spot myself). After this scene, Iron Man simply flies away, refusing accountability for what might happen. This was in my opinion lazy and irresponsible, on both Iron Man's part and the film-makers.

There was also a point I wanted to work into the piece but couldn't figure out how. At one point shortly before the fore-mention scene, Iron Man's computer-Jervis-thing distinguishes the terrorists from civilians and dispatches them accordingly. This is a horribly black-and-white approach to its subject matter.

There are two further points I wish to dispute. First, your argument that a more socially-conscious film would have spoilt its blockbuster fun. It may have been harder to make such a film, but not impossible. Since the Victorian days, good sci-fi has always been allegorical.

Second, the assertion that "we make that assumption because it's the most obvious explanation to an audience of arty young British thinking people". I'm Irish.

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Arthur B

at 11:43 on 2008-05-27

After this scene, Iron Man simply flies away, refusing accountability for what might happen. This was in my opinion lazy and irresponsible, on both Iron Man's part and the film-makers.

Are you sure that the film-makers weren't intending you to come away with the impression that Iron Man is a bit lazy and irresponsible? I've not seen the film, so it's down to those that have to make the call, but when I saw the trailers they seemed to suggest a bit of moral ambiguity on Stark's part (which would make sense given his not-exactly-clean history in the comics).

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Jamie Johnston

at 17:35 on 2008-05-27After this scene, Iron Man simply flies away, refusing accountability for what might happen. This was in my opinion lazy and irresponsible, on both Iron Man's part and the film-makers.

Yes, that was certainly the moment that put the greatest strain on my efforts to regard him as heroic. Arthur may be right to guess that at that point in the film we were supposed to be feeling a bit uneasy about his behaviour, especially since that's followed by what must have been quite a challenging scene for a patriotic American audience, in which a handful of US fighter 'planes try to shoot Iron Man down and he ends up (albeit accidentally) causing one of them to crash. Possibly we were only meant to come fully behind Iron Man when he saves the bailed-out pilot. It's hard to say.

Actually that brings to mind another point I hadn't thought about: the most morally problematic parts of the film are these bits in the middle, where he's engaged in his minimally thought-out anti-terrorist exercise. It gets much simpler when he comes back and gets stuck in to the 'main' plot of (1) stopping the technology falling into the hands of the clear-cut crazy villain and (2) trying not to get killed by the clear-cut crazy villain. Which I guess is one of the main things about super-heroes in general: much of the time, the thing that stops us regarding them as morally questionable is the fact that they're clearly better than whatever implausibly evil villain they're fighting. And that's a point that I suppose supports your argument more than mine, in that the least morally successful bits of the film are, as you've said, the ones where Iron Man is engaging with vaguely real-world issues like terrorism and the international arms trade.

First, your argument that a more socially-conscious film would have spoilt its blockbuster fun. It may have been harder to make such a film, but not impossible. Since the Victorian days, good sci-fi has always been allegorical.

Ah, well, yes, I wouldn't want to say it's impossible, but I think your point about allegory is important, and it links with my rather brief earlier comparison to the 'X-Men' films. The latter are genuinely allegorical, and I'd say that's what makes it easier for them to produce both moderately worthwhile moral / social commentary and super-hero blockbuster fun. What they don't do is what 'Iron Man' does attempt and, as you say, doesn't do very well, which is to have the characters get literally involved in real-world situations. The X-Men don't literally fight against homophobes or xenophobes, and they don't literally get hauled up before the Committee On Un-American Activities. If they did, then I'd say there's a good chance those films would end up just as unsatisfactory in that respect as 'Iron Man', because when you allegorize you can both simplify and dramatize much more easily and effectively.

Second, the assertion that "we make that assumption because it's the most obvious explanation to an audience of arty young British thinking people". I'm Irish.

Ah, my apologies! Actually so am I, at least on paper, thanks to Ireland's wonderfully welcoming rules of citizenship. My new harp-emblazoned passport is in the post at the moment, in fact. But you know what I mean. :)

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Wardog

at 16:46 on 2008-05-28I'm just going to start wildly throwing out opinions here despite not having seen the movie because, well, hey it's never stopped me before. I think the thing about X-Men which is, as you say, genuinely allegorical is that although if you were to Take It Very Seriously you could say it's about social acceptance / xenophobia, what it's most convincingly about is being a teenager, specifically the sort of clever, socially-awkward, comic-reading sort of teeanger that I and, ahem, I suspect several of us here were once upon a time - feeling different to, and excluded from, the rest of the world. And because it's very personal it doesn't strain credibility. Whereas it seems to me (from my position of total ignorance) that using comic book heroes to comment on wider social / political issues only draws attention to how necessarily and inappropriately simplistic such commentary must be.

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Jamie Johnston

at 18:28 on 2008-06-02Mmm, yes, I hadn't thought of that but you're quite right. I guess that comes out better in the films than in the comics, in some ways, because (apart from periodic returns to The Original Point) the comics have tended to forget about the teenaged and school-based part of the X-Men scenario. Not that adult characters living in secret headquarters in a volcano / on the moon / wherever can't also be metaphors for awkward brainy teenagers, but less so.

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https://me.yahoo.com/a/kVNzzlR0hezU7J7swspEMkT_LFLpag--#8a2c5

at 23:00 on 2012-07-10

the true aims of his kidnappers are never fully explained

OK, I know this article isn't exactly new, but I have to point out: we find out near the end why Tony was abducted by the militia -- it's in the video Pepper finds when she's spying for Tony. Obediah hired them to kill Tony; they tried to do so with big explosives from a distance; when they failed and saw him close up, they recognized him, so they took him hostage and forced their captive doctor to patch him up so they could get some weapons out of him on the cheap before finishing the job (after extorting more money out of Obediah, of course).

If you mean the overarching aims, the stuff they want the weapons for, I don't actually think that's necessary. In fact, I think that by leaving it open, it makes it more obvious 1, how many nasty things go on in that part of the world, often aided and abetted by the US Military and 2, how little Tony really knows about what's going on with his business.

#Ferretbrain #Iron Man #Damien F #Marvel Cinematic Universe #MCU

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politicoscope · 6 years ago

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US-Allied Syrian Force Declares Military Victory Over Islamic State

New Post has been published on https://www.politicoscope.com/us-allied-syrian-force-declares-military-victory-over-islamic-state/

US-Allied Syrian Force Declares Military Victory Over Islamic State

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U.S.-backed forces declared military victory over the Islamic State group in Syria on Saturday after liberating the last pocket of territory held by the militants, marking the end of a brutal self-styled caliphate the group carved out in large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

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The nearly five-year war that has devastated cities and towns across north Syria and Iraq ended in Baghouz, a minor border village where the cornered militants made their last stand, under a grueling siege for weeks.

On Saturday, the Syrian Democratic Forces raised their bright yellow banner from a shell-pocked house where the militants once flew their notorious black flag. Below it stretched a field shattered by the battle, pitted by trenches and bomb craters and littered with scorched tents, twisted wreckage of burned out vehicles, unspent explosives and few remaining corpses.

“Baghouz is free and the military victory against Daesh has been achieved,” tweeted Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led SDF, referring to IS by its Arabic acronym.

The fall of Baghouz brings to a close a nearly 5-year global campaign against the Islamic State group that raged in two countries, spanned two U.S. presidencies and saw a U.S.-led coalition unleash more than 100,000 strikes. The campaign has left a trail of destruction in cities in Iraq and Syria, likely killed tens of thousands and drove hundreds of thousands from their homes.

The campaign put an end to the militants’ proto-state, which at its height four years ago was the size of Britain and home to some 8 million people. But the extremist group still maintains a scattered presence and sleeper cells across Syria and Iraq. It’s not known whether the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is still alive or where he might be hiding.

IS affiliates in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Afghanistan and other countries continue to pose a threat, and the group’s ideology has inspired so-called lone-wolf attacks that had little if any connection to its leadership.

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The “caliphate’s” end also marks a new phase in Syria’s civil war, now in its ninth year. The country is carved up, with the Iranian- and Russian-backed government of President Bashar Assad controlling the west, center and south, the U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces holding the north and east, and Turkish allies controlling a pocket in the north. The fear now is of new conflict among those players.

At a ceremony held later Saturday at the nearby al-Omar oil field base, a senior U.S. diplomat, William Roebuck, said the territorial defeat of the Islamic State group is a “critical milestone” that delivers a crushing and strategic blow to the extremist group. But he stressed it remains a significant threat.

“We still have much work to do to achieve an enduring defeat of IS,” he said.

The commander in chief of the SDF, Gen. Mazloum Abdi, appealed for continued assistance to his group until the full eradication of the extremist group. He spoke at the ceremony during which fighters marched to a military band.

The victory declaration sets the stage for President Donald Trump to begin withdrawing most of the 2,000 U.S. troops stationed in northern Syria, as he abruptly announced in December that he would do. Trump, however, later agreed to leave a small peacekeeping force of 200 soldiers in Syria to ensure Turkey will not get into a conflict with the SDF. Turkey views Kurdish members of the SDF as terrorists.

The Kurds fear being abandoned by the Americans. They are squeezed between a belligerent Turkey from the north, which regards them as a national threat and Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces from the south.

[yuzo_related]

Saturday’s announcement came a day after Trump declared that Islamic State militants no longer control any territory in Syria, a victory he had been teasing for days.

Associated Press journalists in Baghouz on Saturday, however, reported hearing mortars and gunfire directed toward a cliff overlooking Baghouz, where U.S.-led coalition airstrikes were carried out a day earlier. SDF spokesman Kino Gabriel said Friday there were IS fighters hiding in caves near Baghouz and that clearing operations were still underway.

The site of IS’s last stand was centered on a tent encampment in Baghouz where, unknown to the besieging SDF forces, thousands of civilians were holed up. During the weeks-long siege, an estimate 30,000 men, women and children were evacuated from the pocket, most of them IS family members, a mix of Syrians, Iraqis and foreigners. They were exhausted, hungry, many of them wounded and traumatized by the loss of relatives, but some remained diehard supporters of the “caliphate.”

On Saturday, journalists were taken to the encampment — a wasteland of wrecked vehicles, torn tents and scorched trees. A few bodies could be seen and the faint smell of rotting corpses hung in the air.

Scattered across the dirt amid empty foxholes and trenches were personal belongings, blankets, generators, oil barrels, water tanks and satellite dishes. Cars and motorcycles were turned to rusted, twisted heaps of metal. There were unused rockets, mortars and grenades, as well as a pile of suicide vests.

Ciya Kobani, an SDF commander, announced the end of the operation from the roof of the building with the SDF flag: “We have been victorious against Daesh,” he declared.

At its height, the Islamic State group ruled a third of both Syria and Iraq, holding millions hostage to its harsh and violent interpretation of Islamic law. The group carried out massacres and documented them with slickly produced videos circulated online. It beheaded foreign journalists and aid workers and burned alive a captured Jordanian pilot. During a rampage through Iraq’s Sinjar region in 2014, it captured thousands of women and girls from the Yazidi religious minority and forced them into sexual slavery. Many remain missing to this day.

The group also used its caliphate as a launchpad for attacks around the globe, including the assaults in Paris in 2015 that killed more than 130 people.

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that “a major danger to our country is now eliminated, yet the threat remains and the fight against terrorist groups must continue.” France has been a member of the coalition fighting the IS since 2014.

While it imposed its unforgiving interpretation of Islamic law through public beheadings and crucifixions, the group also carried out the mundane duties of governance in its territories, including regulating prices at markets and repairing infrastructure.

Cornered in Baghouz, the group fought fiercely and desperately to hang on to the last shred of territory it controlled, using thousands of civilians, including women and children, as human shields. In the final weeks, they streamed out of Baghouz, bedraggled, angry and hungry, overwhelming Kurdish-run camps in northern Syria where they are being held.

Aid organizations say more than 100 people have died in the journey from Baghouz to the al-Hol camp in Hassakeh province, or soon after arriving.

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angrycollectordaze-me-blog · 6 years ago

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Essay代写：The influence of the geographical environment of island countries on British culture

下面为大家整理一篇优秀的essay代写范文- The influence of the geographical environment of island countries on British culture，供大家参考学习，这篇论文讨论了岛国地理环境对英国文化的影响。英国的岛国地理与环境和其历史发展有着密切的关系，经过历史的变迁，英国人形成了典型的自傲和排外的民族性格，岛国地理环境影响到了英国的方方面面。在近代化过程中，发达的航运业无疑是英国领先于世界、英国人傲视世界的有利因素。而岛国地理环境不仅促进了英国航海事业以及对外扩张的发展，还形成了英国人浓厚的岛国意识，造就了自傲而排外的英国国民性格。可以说英国的岛国地理环境是英国文化形成的基础。

Generally speaking, culture is not only a social phenomenon, but also a historical phenomenon and a deposit of social history. Culture has the characteristics of nationality, and the culture of a nation is inseparable from the objective environment of the nation and the resulting human practice. Mountain down just as the Japanese scholars on the Chinese view of a Japanese pointed out: "the root of the Chinese sex, might as well as the mainland over the vast continent, anything not clear to distinguish between, there can be no absolute integrity, the Chinese see complete things, even if also unconsciously think grasp the integrity, too burdensome heavy, as long as you can to choose the main part, is already enough is enough". A comprehensive view of world history reveals that a country's geography and economy are closely related, and this relationship plays an important role in forming the nation's character. Similarly, the geography of island countries in the UK is closely related to the environment and its historical development. Through historical changes, the British have also formed a typical national character of arrogance and exclusion, and the geographical environment of island countries has influenced all aspects of the UK.

The United Kingdom is an archipelago country in the Atlantic ocean. It is a country that both leaves the European continent and is close to the European continent. East of the north sea, facing Belgium, the Netherlands and other countries; Next to Ireland in the west, across the Atlantic ocean with the United States, Canada is far away; North across the Atlantic to Iceland; It's 33 kilometers south across the English channel to France. The geographical location surrounded by the sea had different influences on the development of Britain in different historical periods.

At its widest point the seas of the island of Great Britain are nearly 500 kilometres wide, with a winding coastline of 11,145 kilometres, many of which are wedged deep into the interior of bays and estuaries. Nowhere on the island is more than 120 kilometers from the ocean. Britain has abundant rainfall and rugged terrain, resulting in a rather dense and water-rich network of rivers. The river Thames flows from west to east through the plain in southeast England and finally into the north sea. Its water level is stable and it is not frozen for many years, so it has high shipping value. Britain has the estuary facing many big rivers in Western Europe, which flows into the north sea and the English channel respectively, providing channels for Britain to strengthen the connection with Europe, especially western European countries.

The UK is the country with the richest energy resources in the eu. The rich oil resources under the north sea are very beneficial to the economic development of the UK. Britain is surrounded by the sea, there are many rivers and lakes, so rich in fish, rich in aquatic resources, is one of the important European fishing countries; Affected by the warm ocean current, the whole territory is mild and humid all year round, warm in winter and cool in summer. Most areas are not frozen, which is conducive to the growth of crops and the development of inland river shipping industry.

The superiority of geographical position is greatly limited by historical conditions. In the middle ages and before, Britain's island position isolated it from the mainland, which was not conducive to the development of Britain, and after the geographical discovery, its advantages began to show. The location of island countries and superior shipping conditions were favorable factors for the formation of the empire.

When the world navigation industry was underdeveloped and the cultural center was still in the east of Asia, while the European economic and cultural center was still in the Mediterranean Sea, the ocean limited the development of Britain, which was considered as the edge of the world. But after the great geographical discovery, European colonialists began to plunder the colonies everywhere, and the main lines of international trade gradually shifted from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic ocean. Britain was on this main line, and its important geographical position promoted its development. London soon became the world trade center, and Britain quickly developed into the "world factory". Before the advent of modern weapons and the backwardness of world navigation, the sea provided Britain with a favorable barrier against the threat of war. Its borders are mostly maritime, so it can concentrate on building a navy. After becoming powerful at sea, it took advantage of its position close to the mainland to participate in the political and economic activities of Europe, and then plundered and controlled some countries.

Before the Norman conquest, the sea was the main thoroughfare for foreign invasions of Britain, and the British Isles were successively invaded by the Romans, the anglo-saxons and the danes. But in modern and modern history, the sea has been a strong line of defense for Britain. Across the sea, Britain has been spared many continental wars.

Britain's island environment and surrounding Marine resources provided favorable conditions for the development of navigation technology, navy, overseas expansion and prosperity of overseas trade. From 1337 to 1453, on and off, Britain and France fought what was called the "hundred years' war" in history. The direct cause of the war was the dispute over the succession caused by the blood relationship between the British and French royal families, but in fact it was a commercial war, and the deeper cause of the war was the competition for market and commercial interests. In the hundred years war, Britain's attempt to expand to the mainland ended in failure. In 1558, at the age of 25, Elizabeth I ascended the British throne, and Britain began to develop towards the sea. In foreign trade, Elizabeth encouraged overseas import and export, and constantly sought to expand the overseas market of British woolen goods. Her reign, the British government pay special attention to develop the shipping industry and military industry, shipbuilding reward, and build a powerful navy, a huge fleet and merchant fleet ZhouLu successively, transshipment. Elizabeth also encouraged the establishment of various types of overseas trading companies, and issued licences to these companies, allowing them to monopolize trade in specific areas. The great geographical discovery ushered in a new era in which European nations developed their maritime industries in anticipation of trade and the plunder of wealth in other parts of the world. In an age of commercialization, winning the sea is more important than winning the land. Elizabeth was keenly aware of this, and realized that Britain had an advantage in this respect that no other country could match. As a result, she quickly became an active supporter and direct participant in Britain's overseas trade.

From the 16th century to the early 20th century, British colonialists carried out aggression and expansion. Britain is the largest colonial country in modern times. Its colonies once spread all over the world and became the world's number one power. It established a powerful empire, known as "the empire where the sun never sets". The British colonial expansion had a great influence on the evolution of modern history and geopolitics. From 1815 to the middle of the 19th century, British merchant ships and warships appeared in every corner of the world. They acquired territory, opened ports, plundered raw materials and dumped products. From the cape of good hope to the Indian Ocean and then to the Pacific Ocean, Britain established a very smooth overseas trade channel. If large brilliant in the history of the Roman empire is an area with the center of the Mediterranean empire, so the British set up the "day not fall empire" is a real world empire, the British colonies all over the world, explore the territory of the rule of the population, is by no means can match any empire in human history.

The myth that the sun never set on the empire still haunts the British. Unique island location in the long historical process for the development of British bring unlimited opportunities and great glory, to make the people on the island to form the strong superiority and dependence, this feeling to the British in a confident, democracy and a pioneering spirit, at the same time, also has the obvious characteristics such as exclusion, thus forming a kind of complex social and cultural - island. This insula-nation complex has grown and matured in the process of expansion and colonization, from national consciousness to national consciousness, and has continued to this day, projecting into every aspect of British society.

The British have a long history of insularity. In 1485, a feudal Tudor dynasty was established in England. It was at this stage, especially in Elizabethan times, that the British had an accurate and objective understanding of their island status, and the "island consciousness" began to form and was finally established. It may have been a by-product of the hundred years' war between England and France, a gift from god to the English.

The idea of an island nation occupies an important place in the British imagination. The great writer Shakespeare revealed the English islander mentality very early. As John the elder of gaunt said in Charles ii, "this gem is set in the silver-gray sea, which is like a wall or a moat along the house. Shakespeare's words exude the superiority of his country to the sea. The island nation complex made the British imaginative and creative, and had a profound influence on English literature. In the 18th century, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe is one of the immortal "island novels" based on the wonderful story of sailor Alexander selcock.

Surrounded by the sea, and secure, the British acquired a confidence early on. Insularity complex is deeply imprinted in the minds of the British people, which makes the British feel extremely proud of living in such an island country, thus showing the national character of exclusion and contempt to the outside world. It is hard not to conclude that, deep down, the British look down on foreigners. In 1592, describing a visit to England by Frederick, duke of wiltem, a German writer remarked: "the inhabitants... Very arrogant, domineering... They showed no respect for foreigners and treated him with contempt and ridicule." The British disdain for foreigners is often expressed in everyday matters. When the British say something rude and ask for forgiveness, they say: "pardon my French. Don't call it "asking for leave of absence from France"; He called corruption a "Spanish custom," among other things. These accusations epitomise a British arrogance. In her 1983 book, understanding Britain, Elizabeth price talked about the traditional British image: "people think of a traditional British person as introverted and cold... A firm belief in the superiority of the British over other peoples. It is this "belief in the superiority of britons over other peoples" that forms the proud image of the British people, so to speak. A two-year survey commissioned by the British council, the Murray institute, interviewed more than 3,000 people around the world about their impressions of Britain. They found that they generally thought the British people were traditionally conservative and had a cold and arrogant attitude towards foreigners. "The older generation thought they were still colonial masters and looked down on people of other RACES," added one Singaporean.

Insularity plays a big role in Britain's relations with Europe. The geographical distance and kinship between the British people and Europe make them feel that they are both the main ethnic group in Europe and do not belong to Europe at the same time. Therefore, under the domination of the island complex, Britain always stays aloof and takes a hands-off attitude when wars or disputes occur on the European continent. From the end of the second world war until the present day, when dealing with major international issues, the United Kingdom first thought of the United States, with its greater cultural identity, rather than its own rear, the continent of Europe. This was a reasonable idea at the time of Britain's rise, but an anachronism at a time when the empire was no longer in its glory.

Although the British area is only 243,000 square kilometers, but the British created the myth of "the sun never sets empire", which can be said to be proud of its special, superior to other countries island geographical environment and Marine resources. In the process of modernization, the developed shipping industry is undoubtedly the favorable factor for Britain to take the lead in the world and the British people to take the lead in the world. The geographical environment of island countries not only promoted the development of British seafaring and foreign expansion, but also formed the strong sense of island nation of British people, and created the proud and exclusive British national character. It can be said that the geographical environment of the island is the basis of the formation of British culture. The study of its geographical environment helps us better understand and understand British culture.

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sagar-kinagi · 6 years ago

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Non-Lethal Weapons Market Anticipated to Grow with a CAGR of 9% during 2016-2021

Global Non-Lethal Weapons Market by End User (Law Enforcement and Military & Defense), by Product Type (Direct Contact Weapons and Directed Energy Weapons), by Technology (Electromagnetic, Mechanical, and Chemicals) and by Geography - Forecast To 2021

Non-Lethal Weapons Market – Market Overview

Non-lethal have become the weapon of choice for state police forces in many parts of the world where they do not have permit to use lethal weapons on civilians. One of the reasons for this is also the easy availability of non-lethal weapons. They are available legally for the state's use. There are thousands of companies in approximately 100 countries producing small arms and non-lethal weapons. The Small Arms industry has become globalized, with most of the small arms, including non-lethal weapons now being produced in different countries.

The global Non-Lethal Weapons market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 9% during 2016-2021.

Non-lethal weapons are used by both the military and the law enforcement forces. Unlike lethal weapons, that can cause casualties, the non-lethal weapons are used to reduce the fatalities to a large extent. These weapons are specifically designed to cause temporary harm or injury to a person. Non-lethal weapons are mainly used for crowd dispersion, controlling civil wars, and controlling illegal protests against governments.

Militarization of police forces by providing them with more arms and weapons is also one of the major drivers. For example, there is an increase in the rate of police militarization in the US, under the program ‘Urban shield’ fuelled by the money from Department of Homeland Security. In the US, the Department of Defense is also authorized to donate surplus military equipment to the police. The police are also authorized to purchase weapons for counter-drug actions, homeland security, and emergency response activities. Similarly, the EU has established a multinational police force, the EGF, with military status, which performs police tasks with the scope of crisis management operations. The EGF consists of more than 3,000 militarized police from member countries such as France, Portugal, Netherlands, Italy, Romania, and Spain, and can be deployed in any of the EU member nations.

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Key Players

The leading market players in the Non-lethal weapons market primarily include Aardvark Tactical, BAE systems, General Dynamics, KRATOS Defense and Security Solutions, Lamperd Less Lethal. The other prominent players include Brügger & Thomet AG, Condor Non-Lethal Technologies, Metal Storm Ltd, Nonlethal Technologies Inc., Raytheon Co and TASER International, Inc.

Non-Lethal Weapons Market – Regional Analysis

The US is the single largest market for non-lethal weapons. The law enforcement bodies largely use non-lethal weapons to control violent crimes in the country. US has the highest ratio of civil ownership of guns in the world with an estimate of 90 guns per 100 residents. The rules and regulations permitting the ownership of guns by civilians are quite convenient in the US, along with the low denial rate for obtaining the license. This has also led to high incidents of violent crimes.

Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and Argentina are the other major exporters and importers of non-lethal in the Americas, whereas other countries such as Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, and Chile are the major importers. Brazil is also the second largest producer of non-lethal weapons in the Americas after the US. Along with the rise in violence, non-lethal weapons production has also increased in Brazil. Many of the other South American countries are also struggling with border tensions as well as internal civil unrest. Thus, both military and defense, and law enforcement bodies possess non-lethal weapons in the region.

In the recent years, the Asian countries have been prone to extremist and insurgent threats as well as territorial disputes. China, Japan, India, and South Korea, the three major technological hubs of the Asia-Pacific region, have increased their military expenses significantly, and have procured a number of advanced non-lethal weapons. The other countries of the region, such as India, Australia, and Singapore are not lagging behind, as they have increased their military exports, over the years.

Europe is currently facing a challenging security situation on many fronts. The economic and political crisis in European countries such as Portugal, Greece, Ireland, Cyprus, and Ukraine and violence in the Middle East and North African countries display multiple challenges for the respective countries. Also, the growing influx of illegal immigrants from countries such as Syria, Iraq, and Libya into the European countries is escalating the risk of internal instability. These challenges fuel the demand for non-lethal weapons in this region. With the deployment of such advanced systems by the European Union (EU) and other government bodies, the European countries such as France, Germany, Russia, Turkey, and the UK would have greater control over these turbulent and unrest situations.

Acess full Report @ https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/non-lethal-weapons-market-1353

Study Objectives of Non-Lethal Weapons Market

To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 5 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the Non-Lethal Weapons Market

To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth

To analyse the Non-lethal Weapons Market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc.

To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW)

To provide country-level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective

To provide country-level analysis of the market for segment by end user, Product type, and technology.

To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analysing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market

To track and analyse competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the Non-lethal Weapons Market

About Market Research Future

At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.

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#Non-Lethal Weapons Market #Non-Lethal Weapons Market growth #Non-Lethal Weapons Market analysis #Non-Lethal Weapons Market trends #Non-Lethal Weapons Market size #Non-Lethal Weapons Market share #Non-Lethal Weapons Market futurescope

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robertawilliams · 6 years ago

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Brexit: EU relocates Galileo satellite system installation from UK to Spain

A part of the infrastructure for the Galileo satellite system will be relocated from the Britain to Spain because of the UK’s departure from the EU, the European Commission has announced.

The back-up security monitoring centre for Galileo, Europe’s advanced version of GPS, was originally awarded to London in 2010 after a competitive process.

The centre, which was due to become fully operational later this year, controls access to the satellite system and provides around-the-clock monitoring of it when the main security centre, near Paris, is offline.

Juncker says Britain should re-join EU using Article 49 after Brexit

“Today the Committee of the member states’ representatives met and we can confirm that the committee voted in favour, by a large majority of our commission proposal to relocate the centre to Spain,” a spokesperson for the European Commission told reporters in Brussels.

“This is what we can say today. As is the case with all committee procedures the college [of commissioners] will now formally adopt this decision in its meeting next Wednesday.”

He confirmed that the system was being moved “as consequence of the UK withdrawal from the EU”.

The relocation is the latest blow to Britain’s space industry from Brexit. In November UK aerospace firms and the Royal Aeronautical Society said they were being excluded from contracts because of the decision to leave the EU, with contracts for Galileo particularly affected.

An Ariane rocket carrying four European Galileo navigation satellites launches November 15, 2016 in Kourou, French Guiana (Getty Images)

The relocated back-up security centre is expected to employ as many as 30 people when it becomes fully operational in Madrid – with additional benefits for prestige and local expertise.

Galileo’s space constellation currently consists of 18 satellites, with full services due to come online in 2020. The system, which is designed to be more accurate than GPS, was developed in part so that Europe would not have to rely on a system controlled by the US military for navigation.

The US also reserves the most accurate data from GPS for its armed forces, and there are concerns that it could be shut off for other users during wartime.

Brexit Concerns

Brexit will put British patients at 'back of the queue' for new drugs

Brexit will put British patients at the “back of the queue” for vital new drugs, the Government has been warned – forcing them to wait up to two years longer A medicines regulator has raised the alarm over a likely decision to pull out of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as well as the EU itself. ealth Secretary Jeremy Hunt dropped the bombshell , when he said he expected the UK would quit the EMA – because it is subject to rulings by the European Court of Justice.

Getty Images

London to lose status as 'gateway to Europe' for banks

One of Germany’s top banking regulators has warned that London could lose its status as “gateway to Europe” for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc. Andreas Dombret, who is an executive board member for the Bundesbank—Germany’s central bank—told a private meeting of German businesses and banks earlier this week in Frankfurt that even if banking rules were “equivalent” between the UK and the rest of the EU, that was still “miles away from [Britain having] access to the single market”, the BBC reports.

Jason Hawkes

Exodus

The number of financial sector professionals in Britain and continental Europe looking for jobs in Ireland rocketed in the months after the UK voted to leave the European Union

Shutterstock

Brexit is making FTSE 100 executives richer

Pay packages of many FTSE 100 chief executive officers are partly tied to how well share prices are doing rather than the CEO’s performance -- and some stocks are soaring. ritish equities got a boost since the June vote because the likes of Rio Tinto, Smiths Group and WPP generate most sales abroad and earn a fortune when they convert these revenues back into the weakened pound. Sterling’s fall also made UK stocks more affordable for overseas investors.

Rex

Theresa May: UK to leave single market

Theresa May has said the UK "cannot possibly" remain within the European single market, as staying in it would mean "not leaving the EU at all".

Getty

Lead campaigner Gina Miller and her team outside the High Court

Getty

Raymond McCord holds up his newly issued Irish passport alongside his British passport outside the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit

PA wire

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood leaving the High Court in Belfast following a judges dismissal of the UK's first legal challenges to Brexit

PA wire

Migrants with luggage walk past a graffiti on a wall as they leave the 'Jungle' migrant camp, as part of a major three-day operation planned to clear the camp in Calais

Getty

Migrants leave messages on their tents in the Jungle migrant camp

Getty

The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (Adra) which distributes approximately 700 meals daily in the northern Paris camp states that it is noticing a spike in new migrant arrivals this week, potentially linked the the Calais 'jungle' camp closure - with around 1000 meals distributed today

EPA

Migrant workers pick apples at Stocks Farm in Suckley, Britain

Reuters

Many farmers across the country are voicing concerns that Brexit could be a dangerous step into the unknown for the farming industry

Getty

Bank of England governor Mark Carney who said the long-term outlook for the UK economy is positive, but growth was slowing in the wake of the Brexit vote

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down over 600 points on the news with markets around the globe pluninging

Getty

Immigration officers deal with each member of the public seeking entry into the United Kingdom but on average, 10 a day are refused entry at this London airport and between 2008 and 2009, 33,100 people were detained at the airport for mainly passport irregularities

Getty

A number of global investment giants have threatened to move their European operations out of London if Brexit proves to have a negative impact on their businesses

Getty

Following the possibility of a Brexit the UK would be released from its renewable energy targets under the EU Renewable Energy Directive and from EU state aid restrictions, potentially giving the government more freedom both in the design and phasing out of renewable energy support regimes

Getty

A woman looking at a chart showing the drop in the pound (Sterling) against the US Dollar in London after Britain voted to leave the EU

Getty

Young protesters outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, to protest against the United Kingdom's decision to leave the EU following the referendum

Getty

Applications from Northern Ireland citizens for Irish Passports has soared to a record high after the UK Voted in favour of Leaving the EU

Getty

NFU Vice President Minette Batters with Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsome at the National Farmers Union (NFU) took machinery, produce, farmers and staff to Westminster to encourage Members of Parliament to back British farming, post Brexit

Getty

The latest reports released by the UK Cabinet Office warn that expats would lose a range of specific rights to live, to work and to access pensions, healthcare and public services. The same reports added that UK citizens abroad would not be able to assume that these rights will be guaranteed in the future

Getty

A British resident living in Spain asks questions during an informative Brexit talk by the "Brexpats in Spain" group, about Spanish legal issues to become Spanish citizens, at the town hall in Benalmadena, Spain

Reuters

The collapse of Great Britain appears to have been greatly exaggerated given the late summer crowds visiting city museums, hotels, and other important tourist attractions

Getty

The U.K. should maintain European Union regulations covering everything from working hours to chemicals until after the government sets out its plans for Brexit, said British manufacturers anxious to avoid a policy vacuum and safeguard access to their biggest export market

Getty

GPS also has a feature called “selective availability” that can be used to deliberately introduce errors into positioning, with the stated purpose of preventing enemy forces from using the system to guide weapons. The system is currently turned off.

In November the EU announced that the European Medicines Agency and the European Finance Authority would be moving from London to Amsterdam and Paris respectively because of Brexit, taking hundreds of high-paying jobs and sectoral benefits with them.

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marketrf39-blr-blog · 7 years ago

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Non-Lethal Weapons Market Revenue, Opportunity, Segment and Key Trends 2021

Non-Lethal Weapons Market –Overview

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Major Key Players

The leading market players in the global non-lethal weapons market primarily include Aardvark Tactical, BAE systems, General Dynamics, KRATOS Defense and Security Solutions, Lamperd Less Lethal. The other prominent players include Brügger & Thomet AG, Condor Non-Lethal Technologies, Metal Storm Ltd, Nonlethal Technologies Inc., Raytheon Co and TASER International, Inc.

Non-Lethal Weapons Market – Competitive Analysis

The global non-lethal weapons market is a highly fragmented market due to the presence of a large number of established manufacturers, small-sized vendors, and medium-sized vendors. The competitive environment in this market is likely to intensify, during the forecast period, with the increase in product extensions, technological innovations, and increase in the number of mergers and acquisitions. It is expected that international players may grow organically during the forecast period by acquiring smaller players.

Established companies are acquiring smaller companies that have a weak financial position and a low market share. Such acquisitions are helping major companies increase their market shares and their geographical presence. It is also helping them enhance their product portfolio. For instance, The Safariland Group acquired the explosive ordnance disposal and crew survivability businesses of Allen-Vanguard Corp., the leader in customized solutions for defeating terrorist and extremist threats.

Non-Lethal Weapons Market – Regional Analysis

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Non-Lethal Weapons Market – Segments

For the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding; the non-lethal weapons market is segmented in to four key dynamics:

Segmentation by End User: Law Enforcement and Military & Defense.

Segmentation by Product Type: Direct Contact Weapons and Directed Energy Weapons.

Segmentation by Technology: Electromagnetic, Mechanical, and Chemicals.

Segmentation by Regions: Comprises Geographical regions – North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, and South America.

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MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.

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retroreloader · 7 years ago

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Liberal Social Manifesto 2018 Update

by Hearts and Minds Media

Manifesto updated with latest infographics on wage increase for politicians and making the point of more people involved in politics especially those suffering from its effects..

Liberal Socialist Manifesto 2018

Goverance

Increased powers to each nation on local laws, taxation and spending including local business leaders and organisational leaders with requirements for engagement with local people.

All Councillors required to be from the local area, have connections and be responsible financially for all projects or decisions(Directorship)

Politics

More young parliament engagement in trade training in politics highlighting local youth involvement

Increase contitutencies from 650 -1000 to include greater selection of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland representation and North-West and North-East sections of the UK which are unequal in comparison with southern regions.

Paying Politics

Counsellors linked to average pay for council workers (Also to include pensions) and annual checks on expenses

MP’s linked to average pay £22,020 and state pension

Royals income to be derived from Duchy income alone especially given the limit has been raised to 20% this year allowing for £84 million this year 2018-19 alone. No other income from the public pursue for any reason.

Expenses on royals and MP’s capped at their annual wage limit (e.g. £22,020)

Immigration

Allow the celtic devolved governments to have control over immigration to each country, and introduce a Canadian-style earned citizenship system to attract highly-skilled immigrants. With jobs offered first to settled citizens and then offered to settled immigrants after a period of 1 months advertising. Immigrant posing a serious risk will be deported and benefits/NHS can only be applied for after citizenship and settled for 2 years of paying into the system

Taxes and the economy

Oppose UK plans in the Infrastructure Bill which will allow oil and gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing beneath people's homes without consent. Invest in offshore wind farming & Tidal power. Support an international bank tax and limits to industry bonuses. People earning more than £50,000 a year (or double the average minimum wage) would pay 50% income tax. Extra Wealth tax of 5% to 10% people worth £1m or more. Renationalise all essential services such as transport and energy, education and royal mail. Scrap HS2. Allow councils to impose extra business rates on out-of-town supermarkets/shopping centres to fund small local businesses and use the provision to provide funding and investment in community events and markets to revive city centre.. Crackdown on tax avoidance by multinationals to recover estimated 200 billion lost per year. Allow "the current dependence on economic growth to cease, and allow zero or negative growth to be feasible without individual hardship". Commit Britain to a "zero carbon" future. Ensure all grants and loans only offered to SME and Medium sized business’s and consultations and advice utilising local business individuals is acted upon.

The NHS

Return the NHS to its original for of being a health service and enable patients more access and control of their local trusts through direct involvement on committee’s and meetings that require their consent. Reduce the number of senior managers in the NHS by 50% over the next parliament. Streamline the work of health boards. Real terms increases in year-on-year NHS spending.

Reduce all consultants and external agencies working with the NHS including technical spending which has resulted in a wealth of loss. Funding to be diverted away from centralised facilities towards community healthcare, illness prevention and health promotion. Stop privatisation. Abolish prescription charges. Dedicated NHS Tax to go direct to the health service which involves immigrant contribution charge. Ban proactive recruitment of non-British NHS staff from overseas and set a limit for doctors and consultants involving private work while working for the NHS Trust. A complete ban on the promotion of tobacco and alcohol products, including sponsorship.

Security, defence and foreign affairs

Oppose nuclear weapons and push for removal of Trident submarines from Scotland. In 2010, proposed a Scottish Centre for Reconciliation and Conflict Resolution, to promote peaceful alternatives to armed conflict. Maintain 1% commitment to foreign aid. Enhanced role for Celtic countries within the UK in Europe, particularly in fisheries policy, farming and imports damaging to production and self-sustaining business’s.

Referendum on Britain's EU membership. Want reform of EU to hand powers back to local communities. Take the UK out of NATO unilaterally. End the so-called "special relationship" between the UK and the US. Stop EU-US free trade deal TTIP.

Jobs

Introduce gender quotas on public boards. Living wage "a central priority" in all devolved government contracts including education. Continue the 'small business bonus'. Require all jobs to be permanent and apprenticeships to be given a living wage and leading to a position avoiding slave labour exploitation. A national energy conservation scheme to create thousands of new jobs. The party wants to create "sustainable jobs" and promotes more local production of food and goods.

Education

Guaranteed free 30 hours of childcare a week upto four-year-olds in UK , up from 16 hours.

Maintain lack of tuition fees at Scottish universities, and offer financial support in grants and loans to students. Continue to build and refurbish schools. Lower voting age to 16 in all UK elections with mandatory teaching on voting and union history in schools linked with citizenship and community education placements. End performance related pay for teachers. Replace Ofsted with an independent National Council for Educational Excellence. Bring Free Schools and Academies into local authority control. Ensure all teachers are properly qualified; abolish SATS and Year 1 phonics tests. Raise school starting age to six if parents want it and promote home schooling and flexibility for self-employed families. Scrap National Curriculum. Allow 16 and 17-year-olds to vote in all UK elections.

Housing

Oppose the so-called "bedroom tax". The party backs a Citizen's Income, a fixed amount of £72 income a week to be paid to every individual, whether they are in work or not, to be funded by higher taxes on the better off and green levies. But in the short-term it would increase the minimum wage to £10 by 2020. Ban zero hours contracts. Axe the "bedroom tax". Abolish the work capability assessment and restore the level of the former disability living allowance. Scrap the government's welfare cap, which limits the maximum amount a household can claim annually to £26,000 a year.

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studentofrhetoric-blog · 8 years ago

Text

Part 2, Tuesday, March 28th, 2017

International News:

--- "Aid groups operating rescue ships in the Mediterranean have rejected suspicions raised by an Italian prosecutor that by saving tens of thousands of migrants they are effectively aiding Libya-based people smugglers. On Tuesday, humanitarian vessels brought in almost 1,200 migrants picked up in previous days to ports in Sicily, while the Golfo Azzurro, an NGO ship, sped toward more boats that had left Libya possibly packed with migrants and refugees. "If we are not there to save these people and offer them a helping hand, then they will have no chance to survive," said Riccardo Gatti, field coordinator on the Golfo Azzurro, which is operated by the NGO Proactiva Open Arms. The number of migrants rescued from boats off the coast of Libya, where people smugglers operate with impunity, has jumped to more than 23,000 so far this year, 60 percent more than in the same period last year, and some 600 people are estimated to have drowned. In all, 181,000 migrants reached Italy in 2016 - about half of the total who arrived in the European Union by sea - while 4,581 people are thought to have died trying to reach the country on flimsy, overpacked vessels. Carmelo Zuccaro, chief prosecutor in the Sicilian city of Catania, has formed a task force to investigate whether the non-governmental organizations are funded by smugglers. In testimony to parliament last week, Zuccaro said he suspected there were direct ties, though he had no proof."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-italy-idUSKBN16Z2C7?il=0

--- "Russia and Iran have pledged to continue efforts to rein in oil production and stabilize markets, the presidents of both countries said in a joint statement on Tuesday. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and other large producers, led by Russia, had agreed in December to cut their combined output by almost 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd) to reduce bloated oil inventories and support prices. Iran, however, successfully argued that it should not limit production that was slowly starting to recover after the lifting of international sanctions in January last year. "Russia and Iran will continue cooperation in this sphere (in oil output cuts) in order to stabilize the global energy market and ensure stable economic growth," the statement from Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani said. They two presidents met in the Kremlin and also discussed Syrian crisis among other issues. Russia has pledged to cut oil output by 300,000 bpd in the first half of the year."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-russia-opec-deal-idUSKBN16Z0PM?il=0

--- "The United Nations is considering using other ports in Yemen or land convoys to deliver food for 17 million hungry people in case the main port of Hodeida is attacked, the chief U.N. humanitarian official there said on Tuesday. Yemen has been divided by two years of civil war that pits the Iran-allied Houthi group against a Western-backed Sunni Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia that is carrying out air strikes. At least 10,000 people have been killed in the fighting. Jamie McGoldrick, U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, said the aid effort was on a "knife edge" due to insufficient funding, despite the threat of famine. The U.N. has received only 7 percent of its $2.1 billion appeal for 2017. Yemen's main port at Hodeida is badly damaged and has been short of cranes. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has already switched to using Aden port in the south."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-un-idUSKBN16Z22E?il=0

--- "China has launched a charm offensive with the European Union since U.S. President Donald Trump took office, shifting its stance on trade negotiations and signaling closer cooperation on a range of other issues, European diplomats say. European envoys in Brussels and Beijing sense a greater urgency from China to find allies willing to stand up for globalization amid fears Trump could undermine it with his protectionist "America First" policies. "Trump is pushing China and Europe together," said one Beijing-based diplomat, citing Chinese support for trade, combating climate change and the United Nations, all areas where the new U.S. president is seeking a change of tack. Four senior EU diplomats and officials in close contact with the Chinese told Reuters they also see a chance for a breakthrough on business issues that have been moving slowly for years, including a special treaty to increase investment flows. EU business groups are more skeptical, expressing growing dissatisfaction, like their U.S. counterparts, with limited market access in China and pressing for a firmer response."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-china-idUSKBN16Z22S?il=0

--- "Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that Syrian peace talks sponsored by Tehran, Russia and Turkey would continue in Kazakhstan without specifying a date for the next round of negotiations. Rouhani, who was speaking after wrapping up two days of talks in Moscow, said he had discussed the situation in Syria and Yemen with Russian President Vladimir Putin."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-russia-iran-idUSKBN16Z1ZF?il=0

--- "Yemeni troops captured a senior leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) during an early morning raid on Tuesday in the southeastern Hadramawt region, a local security official said. Special forces stormed the house in a remote village where Abu Ali al-Sayari, a Saudi national of Yemeni origins, was hiding, the official said. They detained three others and killed two more. Al Qaeda militants took advantage of Yemen's civil war which began in 2015, seizing parts of the country's south before government soldiers and troops from a Saudi-led Arab coalition drove them out of major population centers. The militants now control much less territory, but continue to launch occasional attacks on state officials and institutions. AQAP, which the United States regards as one of the deadliest branches of the network founded by Osama bin Laden, has in the past plotted to down U.S. airliners and claimed responsibility for the 2015 attacks on the office of Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-alqaeda-raid-idUSKBN16Z1QL?il=0

--- "Britain will consider all options for Northern Ireland including direct rule from London if politicians there fail to form a regional government in the next three weeks, the minister for the province said on Tuesday. Northern Ireland politics has been in crisis since Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein pulled out of government in January, sparking a March 2 election that ended the majority pro-British unionists had enjoyed in the province for almost a century. The expiration on Monday of a three-week deadline to form a government raised fears that power might revert from the regional parliament to the British government in London, a step that took five years to reverse the last time it happened. "We do not want to see a return to direct rule," Northern Ireland minister James Brokenshire told the British parliament on Tuesday. "But should talks not succeed in their objective, the government will have to consider all options." If no agreement has been reached, the British parliament will begin to fill the power vacuum in Northern when it returns from its Easter recess on April 18 by bringing legislation to set local taxes on homes and businesses, he said."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-nireland-idUSKBN16Z1GG?il=0

--- "Pope Francis urged the United Nations on Tuesday to seek the "total elimination" of nuclear weapons, speaking as the United States and some other major powers boycotted a conference considering a global ban. In a message to the conference that started in New York on Monday, Francis called on nations to "go beyond nuclear deterrence" and have the courage to overcome the "fear and isolationism" he said was prevalent in many countries today...Francis said international peace and stability "cannot be based on a false sense of security, on the threat of mutual destruction or total annihilation, or on simply maintaining a balance of power". "We need to go beyond nuclear deterrence: the international community is called upon to adopt forward-looking strategies to promote the goal of peace and stability and to avoid short-sighted approaches to the problems surrounding national and international security," he said."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/nuclear-un-pope-idUSKBN16Z1F5

--- "Russia's defense ministry said on Tuesday it regarded U.S. naval patrols in the Black Sea as a potential threat to its safety because it was unclear what kind of missiles the ships were carrying, the RIA news agency reported. Russia, which annexed Ukraine's Crimea in 2014, has its own Black Sea Fleet based at Sevastopol."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-usa-blacksea-idUSKBN16Z0WD?il=0

--- "The Russian Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that the USA's global deployment of an anti-missile system was a threat to world security designed to contain Russia and China, the RIA news agency reported. It also cited the ministry as warning that the deployment would spark a new arms race."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-usa-missiles-idUSKBN16Z0V5?il=0

--- "Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told Reuters on Tuesday that Russia could use Iranian military bases to launch air strikes against militants in Syria on a "case by case basis." Russia and Iran are both key allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and have played decisive roles in the past 18 months to turn the tide of the Syrian conflict in his favor. Russian jets used an air base in Iran to launch attacks against militant targets in Syria last summer, the first time a foreign power had used an Iranian base since World War Two. The deployment ended abruptly however after some Iranian lawmakers called the move a breach of Iran's constitution which forbids foreign military bases, and the Iranian defense minister chided Moscow for publicizing the arrangement."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-iran-rouhani-base-idUSKBN16Z0NU?il=0

--- "After Britain leaves the European Union, immigration should rise and fall depending on the needs of the economy, Brexit Secretary David Davis said, the BBC reported. Britain's vote to leave the bloc has opened a huge number of questions including whether exporters will keep tariff-free access to the single European market, what levels of immigration Britain will have and the rights of British citizens in the EU. Immigration was widely seen as having been a key factor behind the result of last June's referendum. Davis said the system of immigration would be for the interior minister to decide but that any system would work in the national interest. "Which means that from time to time we will need more, from time to time we will need less," he was quoted as saying by the BBC. "That is how it will no doubt work and that will be in everybody's interests - the migrants and the citizens of the UK.""

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-immigration-idUSKBN16Z119?il=0

Domestic & International News:

--- "Trump administration trade officials want a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement to improve access for U.S. farm products, manufactured goods and services in Canada and Mexico, said lawmakers who met with them on Tuesday. Members of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee met with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and acting U.S. Trade Representative Stephen Vaughn to discuss the administration's plans for renegotiating the 23-year-old trade deal. Representative Bill Pascrell, a New Jersey Democrat, said Ross told lawmakers in the closed-door session that the administration was still aiming to complete NAFTA renegotiations by the end of 2017. That time frame is viewed by some members as "ambitious," especially because it is not clear when the administration will formally notify Congress of its intention to launch NAFTA renegotiations, Pascrell said. The notification will trigger a 90-day consultation period before substantial talks can begin. Tuesday's meeting was a legal requirement to prepare the notification and preserve the "fast track" authority for approving a renegotiated deal with only an up-or-down vote in Congress."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-nafta-idUSKBN16Z2T4?il=0

--- "U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will press this week for NATO allies to demonstrate a "clear path" to increase defense spending, a State Department official said on Tuesday. Tillerson will hold his first meeting with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on March 31. He will push allies on how they plan to meet a defense spending goal of 2 percent of gross domestic product, and press NATO to increase its role in the fight against terrorism, the official said. "It is no longer sustainable for the United States to maintain a disproportionate share of NATO's deterrence and defense spending," the official said in a briefing with reporters, on condition of anonymity. President Donald Trump has unsettled European allies with demands they increase defense spending and talk of establishing an alliance with Russia to counter Islamic State militants."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-tillerson-nato-spending-idUSKBN16Z2MZ?il=0

--- "Britain's relationship with the United States has not been harmed by unproven claims made on a U.S. television station that it helped eavesdrop on Donald Trump, foreign minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-wiretapping-britain-idUSKBN16Z1C4?il=0

--- "The Kremlin said that a meeting between Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, and Russian state development bank Vnesheconombank was a routine business encounter. "Tens of meetings were held and one of these meetings was with Kushner's company and with him. It is routine business," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in a conference call with reporters."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-usa-trump-idUSKBN16Z13G?il=0

Domestic News:

--- "U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that investments in education and skills training are vital to address persistently high unemployment among lower-income and minority communities. "Education levels have historically lagged in low- and moderate-income communities, particularly communities of color," Yellen said in prepared remarks on workforce development to a conference in Washington. The Fed chief did not mention monetary policy or the economic outlook in her speech. The central bank has repeatedly said that one of the barriers to both employment and growth is a lack of appropriate education and skills training."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-fed-yellen-idUSKBN16Z2ED?il=0

--- "U.S. consumers' confidence in the economy rose in March to its highest level since December 2000, a survey showed on Tuesday, led by optimism for finding work and a brighter assessment of business conditions. The Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index rose to a reading of 125.6 in March from an upwardly revised 116.1 in February. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast a reading of 114.0. "Consumers' assessment of current business and labor market conditions improved considerably," said Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. "Consumers also expressed much greater optimism regarding the short-term outlook for business, jobs and personal income prospects.""

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-confidence-idUSKBN16Z1YF?il=0

--- "U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, already a White House senior adviser, will take on the additional task of overseeing an effort to overhaul the federal government, the White House said on Monday. Kushner, who is married to Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, will lead a White House Office of American Innovation to leverage business ideas and potentially privatize some government functions as the White House pushes to shrink government, cut federal employees and eliminate regulations. "This office will bring together the best ideas from government, the private sector, and other thought leaders to ensure that America is ready to solve today's most intractable problems," Trump said in a memorandum creating the office that includes about a dozen White House officials. Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to "drain the swamp," has enacted a hiring freeze for most civilian federal jobs and proposed massive cuts in U.S. domestic agencies that could shrink the size of government by thousands of workers...Kushner has been a regular presence at his father-in-law's side and was earlier cleared by the Justice Department to serve as a White House senior adviser even as Democrats raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest. He has been given a wide range of domestic and foreign policy responsibilities, including working on a Middle East peace deal. He will continue to serve in the other roles even as he takes up the new duties, the White House said."

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-kushner-idUSKBN16Y19V?il=0

#international affairs #domestic affairs #trump administration #source: reuters

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