Ingushetia - Providing Shelter from the Cold

. In late December 2002, Russian forces dismantled Aki-Yurt, a tent camp in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia, and ' evicted hundreds of displaced Chechen families in an effort to drive them back to Chechnya. But with few willing to return to their volatile communities, they found themselves with nowhere to go in the middle of a brutal winter.

More than 110,000 Chechens have sought safety in Ingushetia from the ongoing fighting between Russian troops and Chechen separatists. But the displaced Chechens face an uncertain future as Russia threatens to close the remain­ing camps and force all of them home, in spite of ongoing insecurity, deplorable conditions and the mass destruction of homes in their communities of origin.

Preparing for more evictions in Ingushetia, the IRC (International Refugee Committee) quickly constructed dozens of family-sized "box tents" to provide temporary shelter and shield families from the cold. We continued to provide sanitation, water and formal education services for children.

Back among the ruins of Chechnya's capital, Grozny, the IRC provides emergency aid for those who stayed behind. Focusing on areas hardest hit by the conflict, IRC staff members make repairs to local water systems and truck in water, build latrines, collect garbage, construct bathing facilities, and provide teacher training and supplies to help 3,500 children catch up on lost learning. We're also planning for emergency shelter, should families in Ingushetia be forced to return to violence-torn Chechnya and find themselves, again, in the cold.

 

13. Translate from Russian into English:

5 августа 2002 года одна из самых кровавых группировок Уганды, Армия Сопротивления, атаковала и разрушила лагерь беженцев Акой-Пии, расположенный в северной части страны. 24 тысячи беженцев из Судана и 43 представителя Международного Комитета по делам беженцев спаслись бегством. В ходе нападения были убиты 50 человек, десятки ранены, а шестеро работников комитета были похищены. Комитет по делам беженцев совместно с ООН работают над переселением беженцев в более безопасное поселение и обеспечением их продуктами, лекарством, водой и предметами первой необходимости. Тем временем, после пяти дней переговоров повстанцы освободили похищенных членов комитета. «Они истощены, но не ранены», - заявил Тимоти Бишоп, глава Комитета по делам беженцев в Уганде. «Это происшествие ни в коем случае не уменьшает желания нашей команды облегчить жизнь беженцам из Судана и Уганды, потерявшим жилье из-за войны, идущей в обеих странах.» В северной части страны продолжаются столкновения между правительственными войсками и повстанцами. Повстанцы также продолжают похищать мирных людей. Тем немногим, кому удалось сбежать из рабства, Комитет по делам беженцев предоставляет медицинскую и психологическую помощь, а также помогает вернуться к своим семьям.

 

14. Write or discuss the following questions:

1. Give talks about the recent acts of terrorism. What measures are taken to punish people, participating in the acts of terrorism, in different countries? Do you think the punishment should be harsher?

2. Give talks on the problems people face in the countries suffering from ongoing wars or conflicts.

3. Discuss the laws or regulations the government can adopt to increase the security against terrorist attacks.

4. Dramatize an interview of a Russian journalist and an American professor of Law about the clash of Western, Eastern and Asian civilisations in the contemporary world. What roles do they play? Why are conflicts and acts of terror so often now? What are their foreign policies?

5. Write an essay on the topic “For and against capital punishment for terrorists”. Give your opinion.

 

 

UNIT 9

GLOBALISATION

1. Read and translate Text 1:

Globalisation

Globalisation is the growth and enactment of world culture. Since at least the middle of the nineteenth century, a rationalised world institutional and cultural order has crystallised that consists of universally applicable models that shape states, organisations, and individual identities. Conceptions of progress, sovereignty, rights, and the like, have acquired great authority. Af­ter World War II international life gained a cultural structure. States at very different economic levels adopted common precepts and established com­mon institutions. Far from being the prime movers on the international scene, states derived much of their structure and authority from being em­bedded in a larger system, a world polity consisting of common legitimating models. But states are not the only globally enacted model. More and more organisations, from scientific associations to feminist groups, from standard-setting bodies to environmental movements, helped to elaborate and imple­ment this common world culture.

By the end of the twentieth century, world culture became the constitutive element in world society. But it cannot claim global consensus; regions differ, for example, in their interpretation of core notions such as individual rights. Nor is world culture free from contradiction; it contains values such as free­dom and equality that are necessarily in tension. Enacting global models will not lead to a completely homogeneous world, if only because institutionalisation under different conditions will produce significant local variation. World culture actually produces new conflicts, for when many believe they live in one world under universally valid principles, they become critical of state ac­tions that deviate from global norms. Since the state of the world is always bound to fall short of high global standards, world culture actually encourages the discovery of new social problems. But the world-wide recognition of problems, ranging from global warming to corruption, is a sign of world culture’s current strength. In a diverse, conflictual, and decentralized world, it provides common models for thinking and acting.

2. Answer the following questions:

1. Why has globalisation acquired great authority?

2. Why is it important for different states to be em­bedded in a larger system, a world polity consisting of common legitimating models?

3. What happened to the world culture by the end of the twentieth century?

4. Why do regions differ in their interpretation of core notions?

5. How do you understand the notion “homogeneous world”?

6. Why are new conflicts possible?

7. How can new social problems be solved in the global world?

 

3. Find English equivalents in the text:

Всемирная культура; приобрести огромную важность; концепция прогресса; универсальные принципы; основная движущая сила; мировая арена; модель законности; всемирное государство; местные отличия; свободный от противоречий; однородный мир; всеобщее согласие; отклоняться от всемирных норм.

4. Match the columns:

1. The … was not in his favour and he was sentenced                 a) endurance

to death.

2. Who will … as President?                                                 b) took it into account

3. The Prime Minister showed remarkable powers of…   c) emergency

4. The military junta came to power as a result of a …     d) provides

5. Brevity is a … characteristic of the author’s style.                   e) applicants

6. He is not very … of criticism.                                           f) resembles

7. This fire extinguisher is to be used only in an …          g) tolerant

8. The Constitution … for equal rights for men and          h) judgement

women.

9. The … are required to fill in all the papers.                   i) in effect

10. The girl … her father very much.                                    j) distinguishing

11. This law has been … for a few months but                    k) succeed      

mass media have made no comments yet.

12. The witness gave his evidence at the trial and              l) coup d’etat

the jury….        

 

5. Translate the text into English in writing:

Новые проблемы и новые надежды были характерны для конца XX века. Угроза ядерной и экологической катастроф, экономическая отсталость стран «третьего» мира, акты международного терроризма, увеличение числа локальных войн - и это лишь далеко не полный спи­сок «вызовов» мировому сообществу. Одновременно происходили подписание многочисленных договоров в области разоружения, шли поиски решений различных региональных конфликтов, осуществля­лось развитие сотрудничества в области науки и культуры, происходил

рост роли и значения антивоенных, демократических, общественных движений. Становление взаимозависимого целостного мира требует от человечества нового решения вопросов, что, несомненно, повышает значение международного права и роль внешней политики отдельных государств на международной арене. В целостном мире внешняя поли­тика государств и международное право всегда взаимодействуют и влияют друг на друга. Международное право и международные орга­низации являются регуляторами как международной жизни, так и внешней политики государств. Ядром всей системы международного права является общее международное право. Многие общечеловече­ские ценности уже нашли свое нормативное воплощение в основных принципах международного права, которые заключаются в праве наро­дов на самоопределение, запрещении обращаться к силе или угрозе ее применения, вмешиваться во внутренние дела государств. Прочный правопорядок в мире возможен в случае признания примата междуна­родного права в политике.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

 

6. Read and translate Text 2:

The new world order

Our world is getting meaner and as we have reached the new millennium, ideas about collective ways of solving social problems have lost ground to arguments that the rules of competition are inevitable in the face of globalization. The apparent inevitability of a meaner world is reinforced by the remarkable ideological convergence of political and economic institutions around the world. Where diversity in economic and political institutions was once tolerated, uniformity is now demanded by international institutions. Globalization provides a view of the world in which the interests of the powerful are defined as necessity, while the demands of the poor appear as greed which undermines economic success. The ideology that underpins globalization focuses on trade as the vehicle for improving the conditions of people everywhere. It is an old idea which sees the increasing integration of international economies as a positive step and one which would inevitably occur, if markets are not unduly hampered by governments. The restructuring associated with globalization doesn't even attempt to promise anything to those traditionally disadvantaged in our society: the unemployed cannot expect jobs, the poor cannot expect prosperity, and women and other disadvantaged people cannot expect equality.

The justification for economic change focuses solely on the competitive benefits for businesses that operate and compete internationally. Throughout the process of globalization the nation state has shifted its role from one which at least tempered the ability of the rich and powerful to dominate, to one which followed the path of least difficulty, by championing mainly the interests of the powerful. The changing nature of the state (or government) was itself made possible by the conditioning framework put in place by international political institutions. States are accepting and even actively pursuing globalization because international corporations want to create conditions for the free movement of capital, unfettered by the ability of nation states to inhibit business transactions. The world is being shaped to meet this need for predictable, market-friendly conditions wherever corporations and investors choose to operate.

The main point to understand from this is that the international economy has been designed with these giant players in mind and the new rules for action accommodate their best interests. Within industrialized nations, the ability of the state to control the actions of corporations appears to have been seriously restricted by the new international context of globalization. The great advantage of the new international rules of trade to multinational corporations is their ability to escape regulation of nation states. The trade agreements work toward establishing one giant global market, while, at the same time, limiting the role of the supranational institutions to market-creating activities.

Unlike the work of nation states, which over time have developed institutions either to correct the economy when the market did not function in an optimal way, such as during times of depression, or to control business, such as through labour or environmental legislation, the international replacements that are being created neither exert discipline on the market nor function as instruments of market-correction. These functions are still the responsibility of nations, but as multinational corporations become more mobile, the ability of corporations to escape the regulation of states increases. As nations compete with each other to have businesses locate in their own countries, the ability to control corporate activity comes into direct conflict with the increased mobility of these corporations. Unless nations agree to behave in the same way with regard to corporate behaviour, the corporations will not be disciplined in any serious way. Any one nation, by insisting on greater standards of corporate behaviour, will be disadvantaged and its corporations will claim that they are being made uncompetitive relative to other corporations in the international market. Since there is no mechanism for nations to act collectively, individual state action is critically weakened.

The new international trade agreements have facilitated the creation of a single market, without a single state to regulate it. In this sense, the growth in power of the corporate sector places nations in about the same stage of control over capital as they had at the dawn of the industrial revolution. Our national institutions are not equipped to cope with the nature of the changes which have taken place. The important point, however, is not that these changes in the control over capital were inevitable, but that the corporate sector worked hard over the years to see that they would occur.

 

7. Answer the following questions:

1. Why is a meaner world inevitable?

2. Why is uniformity now demanded by international institutions?

3. What is the focus of the present day ideology?

4. Can all people expect equality in the modern world?

5. In what way has the nation state shifted its role?

6. What do the trade agreements work toward?

7. Why are states accepting and actively pursuing globalization?

8. What makes corporations to start business in certain countries?

9. What has facilitated the creation of a single market?

 

8. Find English equivalents in the text:

Решение социальных проблем; правила конкуренции; слияние политических и экономических институтов; подрывать экономический успех; средство улучшения условий жизни; свободное движение капитала; ограничивать роль наднациональных органов власти; размещать предприятия; торговые соглашения; на заре промышленной революции; единое рыночное пространоство.

 

9. Find the words in the text according to their definitions:

1. cruel and violent or mot wanting to spend money

2. impossible to avoid or prevent

3. a situation in which people or things gradually become the same or very similar

4. a very firm statement that you want smth

5. to happen, especially unexpectedly

6. to make it difficult to start or continue in a normal way

7. to provide enough space

8. an official rule that controls the way things are done

9. to make it possible or easier for smth to happen

10. to deal successfully with a difficult situation or job

10. Match the columns:

1. The models of democracy are … by the principles                  a) coincided 

of “government ‘for’ or ‘by’ people”.

2. Direct democracy was achieved in Athens by               b) offered, resistance

Mass … in solution of disputes.

3. Universal suffrage was not established in the UK         c) participation

Until 1928, since then women have no longer been

Deprived of their … in politics.

4. The programme was too much time …                            d) regardless of

5. … of such high-technological equipment requires                   e) undergone

great expenses.         

6. More narrowly pluralism … to a theory of the              f) involvement

distribution of political power.

7. There continues to be … about the term “pluralism”   g) consuming

  as there are still different approaches to the problem.

8. The island … for about seven miles.                                    h) pursuing

9. The word “politics” … in Ancient Greece,                   i) determined

   literally meaning city-state.