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The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization established on 24 October

1945 to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of
Nations, the organization was created following the Second World War to prevent another
such conflict. At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193. The UN
Headquarters is situated in Manhattan, New York City and enjoys extraterritoriality. Further
main offices are situated in Geneva, Nairobi and Vienna. The organization is financed by
assessed and voluntary contributions from its member states. Its objectives include
maintaining international peace and security, promoting human rights, fostering social and
economic development, protecting the environment, and providing humanitarian aid in cases
of famine, natural disaster, and armed conflict.
Main purpose of UN, to prevent war, has
Promoting and encouraging respect for

clearly not been achieved.

human rights and for fundamental freedoms

The 2003 invasion of Iraq, UN resolutions

for all without distinction as to race, sex,

have arguably been used as a justification for

language, or religion

wars, rather than to prevent them. Research

shows that the number of armed conflicts in
the world rose steadily in the years after 1945
and has only begun to plateau or fall since
the end of the Cold War.
UN ignores or enables human rights

Responsible for women's rights issues

abuses

include United Nations Commission on the

It has stood by during episodes of genocide

Status of Women, a commission of ECOSOC

in Cambodia, Rwanda, Congo and

founded in 1946; the United Nations

Yugoslavia among many others, tolerates

Development Fund for Women, created in

some of the worlds worst dictatorships as

1976; and the United Nations International

members, and does nothing to improve the

Research and Training Institute for the

situation of women in developing nations.

Advancement of Women, founded in 1979.

Indeed, where UN peacekeepers have been

sent into war-torn countries, they have
sometimes been guilty of the most
horrendous human rights abuses themselves.
As of 2011, the UNs Human Rights Council

itself is comprised of members such as Saudi

Arabia, Cuba and China
UN decision-making procedures are very
Primarily fight to keep peace between the

inefficient.

countries. it gives a place for all the

countries to come to and work out their

The General Assembly is little more than a

problems or issues in a peaceful manner.

forum for world leaders and ambassadors to

lambaste each other. The Security Council is
systemically unable to take decisive action in
many of the worlds trouble-spots due to its
outdated permanent membership structure,
which gives five nations a totally
disproportionate power to prevent the world
body from acting against their interests. In
the UNs 65 years, the veto has been used
nearly 300 times
Many UN bodies are corrupt or

Provide humanitarian assistance to many

compromised.

poor countries and has fought terrorism

The NGO UN Watch has accused the HRC

focusing almost exclusively on alleged
human rights abuses by Israel to the
exclusion of almost every other country.
There have been widespread allegations of
corruption in UN bodies. It is for these
reasons that the US long refused to pay its
full dues to the United Nations and threatens
to do so again in future, as well as
withholding funding from UNESCO in 2011
after it voted to recognize Palestine as an
independent state.
Most international co-operation can takes
place outside UN framework

The major economic, political and trade

issues around the world are almost all dealt
with either through bilateral agreements
between nations or by specialised bodies set
up for that purpose the World Bank, IMF,
EU, ASEAN, NATO, WTO and so on. In all
of these fields the UN is little more than an
irrelevance. Even where the UN does get
involved in international affairs such as in
the Libyan crisis of 2011 it is other bodies,
in that case NATO, which serve as the
vehicle for international cooperation

ENVIRONMENT- GREEN TECH

The term "technology" refers to the application of knowledge for practical purposes.
Green technologies encompass various aspects of technology which help us reduce the
human impact on the environment and create ways of sustainable development. Social
equitability, economic feasibility and sustainability are the key parameters for green
technologies.

 reduce carbon emissions and control temperature rise, which can be addressed by the
use of green technologies such as sustainable manufacturing, green buildings, fuel
efficient transportation, paperless offices, energy efficiency measures, waste recycling
etc.
Corporate Benefits: Green technologies like green buildings, energy efficiency
measures, green manufacturing etc have qualified as energy and resource savers.
Usage of efficient lighting, air-conditioning etc. not only saves money at the
consumers end but it also results in significant savings at the power production end.
Benefits to the Rural Areas: Green technologies involve humans in a much bigger
way than conventional technologies and thereby empower them by giving them
responsibilities and avenues to gain, learn and progress. Provision of bio-gas plants to
rural households has empowered communities and has increased their productivity.
Benefit to the urban areas: Taking into account the current chaotic situation of the
cities of the world one can easily argue that they need to take urgent environment
improvement measures. Cities which actively pursued their environmental concerns in
the last ten years are showing a marked improvement in their environment quality
parameters.
Generate electricity, heat, or fuel for use within the establishment from:

Wind (Aeolic) Energy

Geothermal Energy

Ocean (Tidal) Energy

Hydropower

Biomass

Solar Power

Land Fill Gas (LFG)

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)

Use of technologies or practices to reduce the creation or release of pollutants or toxic
compounds as a result.

Flue Gas Desulfurization (FGD) methods that do not produce hazardous secondary
waste or by-products

Catalytic/Thermal destruction of NOX (or alternative methods of Nitrogen Oxides

reduction/elimination including Fluidized Bed Combustion)

Dioxins reduction/removal methods and/or practices

Other Thermal Oxidizers or Wet Scrubbers to Neutralize Chemicals or Heavy Metals

Solvent recovery systems

Low Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) paints and sealers

Natural Resource Conservation:

Managing land resources

Managing storm water

Conserving soil, water, or wildlife

Practice of no-tillage or conservation tillage agriculture

Organic agriculture

Agroforestry or permaculture

Implementing a paperless office or reducing paper usage and consumption

Korea, China, U.S

Only one modern nation state has been divided nearly 68 years, suffered over four decades of
harsh foreign occupation, and relies not on a peace treaty but a 60-year-old truce. That
country is Koreaa tragedy by any standard in todays world.
The Korean War (25 June 1950 27 July 1953) was a war between the Republic of Korea
(South Korea), supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea (North Korea), at one time supported by China and the Soviet Union. It was primarily
the result of the political division of Korea by an agreement of the victorious Allies at the
conclusion of the Pacific War at the end of World War II. The Korean Peninsula was ruled by
the Empire of Japan from 1910 until the end of World War II. Following the surrender of the
Empire of Japan in September 1945, American administrators divided the peninsula along the
38th parallel, with U.S. military forces occupying the southern half and Soviet military forces
occupying the northern half.
The cause of the problem of North Korea is the lack of a peace treaty following the 1953
Armistice that halted the Korean War. Because there has been no permanent peace, the
Korean Peninsula is inherently unstable in a neighborhood in which the interests of four
major powers converge: China, Russia, Japan, and the United States.
The world medias obsession with North Korea, its bizarre behavior and larger-than-life
threats ignore the fact the North has remained a festering problem in international relations
for decades. Since 1990, the almost exclusive international focus has been on Pyongyangs
nuclear program. The Norths nuclear capability is extremely important and cannot be
ignored, but the nuclear issue wont be solved by focusing on it alone.
The only lasting way to solve the problems presented by North Korea is to bring about a
permanent peace agreement for a peninsula still in a state of war that will lay the basis for
eventual reunification. In the process, the nuclear issue will be resolved as part of
comprehensive mutual security arrangements.
It has been less an issue of North Korea possibly attacking the U.S. or Japan, but more the
risk of it undertaking new provocations against South Korea. Because the South is highly
motivated to respond to the Norths threats, there is the ever-present danger of
miscalculation by either side. Small actions can easily be misinterpreted and tensions can

ratchet up in the blink of an eye. A second Korean War easily could begin unintentionally in
any number of ways.
The North Korean leadership is not suicidal, but as some analysts conjecture, the regime
knows its weaknesses and feels increasingly cornered. Under present conditions, it might risk
it all because everything it holds dear, in its judgment, is already endangered. The North may
choose to gamble on a lightning-fast reunification drive, seizing what territory it can, to bring
it a greater chance of regime survival.
For the past five years, South Korean policy has amounted to waiting for an impending North
Korean collapse. The previous Lee Myung-bak administration thought the best way to deal
with North Korea was to do little other than wait and pick up the pieces after it fell apart on
its own accord. But this did not happen, even upon Kim Jong Ils death, and South Koreas
policy of no engagement or aid to the North under almost any circumstances ended
unsuccessfully. In fact, it arguably created a vacuum of relations that the North filled in 2010
when it sunk a South Korean naval vessel and shelled an island near the DMZ.
The new South Korean administration of President Park Geun-hye, which took office in late
February after the Norths third nuclear test, is attempting to establish a new policy of trust
politict, designed to separate the nuclear issue from other aspects of inter-Korean relations.
The precedent of the 1997-98 Four Party Talks, which included the U.S., China and the two
Koreas. Its purpose was to lay the basis for the successful conclusion of a peace agreement
which would bring lasting peace and stability to the Korean Peninsula and contribute greatly
to the peace and stability of the entire region. These talks should have continued, but they
fell apart because of mutual mistrust between the U.S. and North Korea. Discussion of a
peace agreement should no longer be taboo in South Korea or the U.S., and only these two
presidents can bring this sea change in policy direction. Interim steps will surely be needed,
as noted by analyst Leon Sigal, but a treaty ending the Korean War must be the final goal.
A Korean peace treaty is a vital necessity, and the joint responsibility of the two Koreas and
four major powers. It is the only comprehensive solution, which can deal with all outstanding
political and security issues as part of its settlement. Otherwise who knows what the next
crisis on the Korean Peninsula will bring.

German east and west conflict

Cold war

The Cold War was a sustained state of political and military tension between powers in the
Western Bloc (the United States with NATO and others) and powers in the Eastern Bloc (the
Soviet Union and its allies in Warsaw Pact). Historians have not fully agreed on the dates, but
19471991 is common. It was "cold" because there was no large-scale fighting directly
between the two sides, although there were major regional wars in Korea and Vietnam. The
Cold War split the temporary wartime alliance against Nazi Germany, leaving the USSR and
the US as two superpowers with profound economic and political differences over capitalism
and democracy.

The Berlin Wall was both the physical division between West Berlin and East
Germany from 1961 to 1989 and the symbolic boundary between democracy and

Communism during the Cold War.

The Berlin Wall was erected in the dead of night and for 28 years kept East Germans
from fleeing to the West. Its destruction, which was nearly as instantaneous as its

creation, was celebrated around the world.

The entire German territory was occupied by foreign armies, forming four occupation
zones. In 1946 the United States and Britain formed the Bizone, which was later on
joined by France to build the Trizone in 1949. The growing conflicts between the
Western Allies and Russia led to the approval by the Western military governors of the
new Basic Law on May 23, 1949, and on that date a new state, the Federal Republic
of Germany (FRG or BRD) came into existence. Only a couple of months later, in the
soviet occupation zone the new People's Council was convened for the first time on
October 7, 1949, and on the same day the constitution of the German Democratic
Republic (GDR or DDR) went into effect. During the following four decades, both
German countries chose to follow completely different paths, both from a political as
well as economical perspective.
After a short but powerful period of peaceful manifestations in Eastern Germany, on
November 9, 1989 the GDR border police unexpectedly opened the Berlin Wall.
On October 3, 1990 the Eastern German Volkskammer agreed to the German
unification, and on midnight that same day, the German Democratic Republic joined
the Federal Republic of Germany.

East Germany was a state within the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War period. From
1949 to 1990, it administered the region of Germany which was occupied by Soviet
forces at the end of the Second World Warthe Soviet Occupation Zone of the
Potsdam Agreement, bounded on the east by the Oder-Neisse line. The Soviet zone
surrounded West Berlin, but did not include it; as a result, West Berlin remained

outside the control of the GDR

West Germany (German: Westdeutschland) is the common English name for the
Federal Republic of Germany or FRG (German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland or
BRD) in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3
October 1990. This period is often referred to as the Bonn Republic by academic
historians.

Currency exchange
In finance, an exchange rate (also known as a foreign-exchange rate, forex rate, FX rate or
Agio) between two currencies is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for
another. It is also regarded as the value of one countrys currency in terms of another
currency. Exchange rates are determined in the foreign exchange market, which is open to a
wide range of different types of buyers and sellers where currency trading is continuous: 24
hours a day except weekends.
A currency will tend to become more valuable whenever demand for it is greater than the
available supply. It will become less valuable whenever demand is less than available supply
(this does not mean people no longer want money, it just means they prefer holding their
wealth in some other form, possibly another currency).
Increased demand for a currency can be due to either an increased transaction demand for
money or an increased speculative demand for money. The transaction demand is highly
correlated to a country's level of business activity, gross domestic product (GDP), and
employment levels. The more people that are unemployed, the less the public as a whole will
spend on goods and services.
Currency exchange rates affect travel, exports, imports and the economy.
The Impact on Travelers
If US$1 buys 0.7 euros, U.S. citizens will be more reluctant to travel across the pond. That's
because everything from food to souvenirs would be more expensive - about 43% more
expensive than if the two currencies were trading at parity.
The Impact on Corporations and Equities
The impact that this scenario would have on corporations (particularly large multi-nationals)
is a little more complex because these businesses often conduct transactions in a number of
different currencies and tend to obtain their raw materials from a wide variety of sources.
By definition, these decreased margins would likely have an adverse impact on overall
corporate profits, and therefore on equity valuations in the domestic market. In other words,
stock prices may drop due to these lower earnings and forecasts for future profit potential.