Anagnorisis and Existence (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern) :: essays research papers

Anagnorisis and Existence The Point of Realization in Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the young prince realizes what living is. Yea, from the table of my memory I'll wipe away all trivial fond records, 105 All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past, That youth and observation copied there; And thy commandment all alone shall live Within the book and volume of my brain, Unmix'd with baser matter (Hamlet, I, v. 104-110) Upon realizing his fate – that he must save the â€Å"state of Denmark† – Hamlet must literally discard his prior knowledge and start anew. Aristotle argues that the exact moment when Hamlet realizes his fate – by moving from innocence and ignorance to knowledge – is the cause of tragedy in drama. Aristotle’s calls this realization that all humans must have anagnorisis. For all the moaning and a whining about his situation, Hamlet will fight whatever is â€Å"rotten in the State of Denmark.† (Hamlet, I, iv, 67) Though this self discovery is integral in Shakespeare’s tragedy, Stoppard’s two characters do not even address their fate. And, the result of this lack of action and lack of any anagnorisis in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead when framed against the proactive Hamlet, Fortinbras and Laertes is an interesting commentary on human beings’ reactions to mortality. Death is not romantic, and death is not a game which will soon be over†¦ Death is not anything†¦ death is not†¦ It’s the absence of presence, nothing more†¦ the endless time of never coming back†¦ a gap you can’t see, and when the wind blows through it, it makes no sound. (R&D, 124) To Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, death is lying in a box – bored. Their inability to comprehend death’s complexity stems from the fact that even when alive, they are hardly present, barely hanging onto their existence. If we stopped breathing we’d vanish. (R&D, 112) Part of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s lack of existence is Stoppard’s emphasis on the seeming interchangeability of their identities. However, whereas in Hamlet the King, Gertrude and Hamlet mistake the two for each other, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern actually mistake themselves. Their lack of identity leaves the two characters as not human – they literally do nothing and do not develop. It is for that reason that, though they discover their fate, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern literally cannot die: they don’t actually exist. So, when the time comes for their fate to catch up to them, they literally disappear.

Marriage in A Doll House and A Streetcar Named Desire Essay -- compare

A couple’s marriage along with their struggles and problems can tell us a lot about their individual morals and what type of people they are. How someone handles themselves when they are in a battle or argument with their spouse can show the reader the person they are, their strengths, weaknesses and even their outlook on life. In these plays we are shown Torvald Helmer and Stanley Kowalksi’s ways of controlling their wives, their strengths, weaknesses and outlooks on life, or morals just by their actions. In A Doll House written in 1879 by Henrik Ibsen and in A Streetcar Named Desire written in 1947 by Tennessee Williams we are shown two different husbands, Torvald Helmer and Stanley Kowalksi that have an issue with having to be in control of their wives and their lives. In A Doll House we see a marriage between Torvald and Nora Helmer. Torvald is a major character in the play because he is the person that helps make the conflict of his wife Nora not wanting to tell him about the loan she took out and that she forged her father’s name in order to do it. Ibsen brings the issue of power in this marriage by always having Torvald in charge or the marriage. Torvald is a man that looks at his wife as an object and something that benefits him. He doesn’t really have a deep love for her, but instead is married to her because she is young and beautiful and society accepts and likes married men better than single men. He is very protective of his image and he always wants to look perfect and be perceived as perfect from other people, and Nora helps him achieve this. Torvald takes the role of the ruler, the spouse in charge by treating Nora like a child or a play toy, calling her names like â€Å"pet†, â€Å"squirrel†, or â€Å"Ca pri girl†. He also t... ...y made himself look out of hand himself and he also showed his lack of respect for Stella. In A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen and in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams we are shown two different husbands, Torvald Helmer and Stanley Kowalksi that have an issue with having to be in control of their wives and their lives. Torvald has to be in charge of everything in his life including his wife and in his job so that society will look at him as a â€Å"well off† man and he will always be looked at as stable and in control of every situation. Stanley is somewhat the same, needing to be in charge of his wife and how she acts so that his friends will look at him as â€Å"the tough guy that keeps his wife in line†. In both of these plays we are shown the husband’s strengths and the wives weaknesses and how their conflicts and the husband’s actions affect their marriages.

British TV Drama :: essays papers

British TV Drama To what extent has British television drama contributed to a public discourse on major political and social issues, both in the recent past and during the 1960s. Please draw on specific examples in presenting your argument. In this essay I will discuss how political and social issues have been raised in British television drama and also how they relate to public discourse in Britain. I will discuss TV dramas such as Our Friends in the North, Talking to a Stranger, Cathy Come Home, and Boys from the Blackstuff. There are various issues, which could be identified as social and political in a TV drama, some of them are race, ethnicity, class and gender. Most people are influenced by television, believing what they see to be ‘real’ so it is useful to make a successful programme on hard-hitting issues as it will have deep impact on the audience. From the mid-50s on there has been an increase in original TV drama with a broader appeal. The preference for original drama was a reaction to the theatre’s preoccupation with middle-class concerns. So the ‘angry young men’ playwrights were established. They wrote about ‘real’ issues, about ‘problems faced by the members of a broader audience in their daily lives’. This can be seen in the 1960s, with the arrival of innovative dramas such as Cathy Come Home and Talking to a Stranger. In the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s programmers were taking risks allowing new talent space to grow, but now TV drama tends to be more genre-based. Jeremy Sandford’s Cathy Come Home (1966) bought the issue of homelessness into the public’s eye by showing Cathy’s slide into poverty and despair. Cathy Come Home is ‘deeply concerned about aspects of our society and deals with the plight of the unfortunate, the misunderstood, the ignored’. Policies were promptly changed after this programme was aired; the homeless charity ‘Shelter’ formed four days after Cathy Come Home was screened. Cathy Come Home used an innovative documentary style by using lightweight cameras and by taking the action out of the studio. The director Ken Loach rejected the used of the studio and instead opted for 16mm film. Cathy Come Home offered ‘a harsh and jarring realism which depended on energetic editing, creative use of sound and dialogue, and techniques borrowed from documentary.

Cambodia - The Rise of the Khmer Rouge and the Genocide (1976-1978) Ess

During the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia was turned into a giant labor camp creating a system of terror, genocide, and attempted cultural annihilation-a series of drastic events that the country is still recovering from. The years contained within this regime were devastating for the nation of Cambodia, with the establishment of the Khmer Rouge, a left-wing Communist political party whose actions have had an overwhelmingly detrimental effect on the political, economic and social structure of Cambodia-ruining the lives of millions. As a strong communist organization with aims for Cambodia that would leave the country in dire need of help, the Khmer Rouge defectively impacted the easy-going life Cambodians knew. With much determination, the Khmer Rouge was an insurgent movement of varying ideological backgrounds developed against the Lon Nol regime in 1960 (Rowat 2006). It began as a left-wing organization made up of a small group of French educated communists, but soon grew to become Cambodia?s leading and most influential political party. Following the establishment of the party, the Khmer Rouge?s revolutionary army grew rapidly, aiming to consolidate its control taking over most of the country (Dennis 1988). Their leader Pol Pot was an admirer of Maoist communism, which is where the group?s strong communist ideas originated. Pol Pot?s ideologies for the future of Cambodia were truly corrupted and powerfully triggered the downfall of the nation of Cambodia (Peace Pledge Union 2007). Pol Pot wanted to wipe out all traces of the old Cambodia and start a new society, one that was strictly ordered and structured by a series of rules. With the Khmer Rouge becoming even more powerful in the very late 1960s, US bombers interfered to st... ... 30 000 Vietnamese. In December of 1977, the Khmer Rouge broke off diplomatic relations with Vietnam, who retaliated with an attack 30 km into Cambodia in 1978 (Sutherland 1990, p. 158). Upon occupation, the Vietnamese were welcomed at first by the Cambodians as their saviours from the Khmer Rouge extremists (Sutherland 1990, p. 161). During the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia was turned into a giant labour camp creating a system of terror, genocide, and attempted cultural annihilation, a series of drastic events that the country is still recovering from. The years contained within this regime were devastating for the nation of Cambodia, with the establishment of the Khmer Rouge, a left-wing Communist political party whose actions have had an overwhelmingly detrimental effect on the political, economic and social structure of Cambodia, ruining the lives of millions.

Art History Midterm Essay

The tomb painters were more of artisans than they were artists in ancient Egypt. The reason for this is they didn’t typically come up with the ideas for what they were painting in the tombs; they were told what to paint and painted it. Artists would have had free range on what to paint rather than being told what to paint exactly. Artisans are more the people who can actually paint someone’s idea who might not be able to design or paint the idea given. 2. One rationale reason for cave paintings in prehistoric times, that I have heard and agree with is that they painted these things on the walls in hope that the creatures would come so they would have food among other things. One particular example would be all the paintings in the Las Caux cave in France; it is a cave entirely full of images of bulls. Bulls or bison were a source of not only food but probably clothing and they could use other parts of the body for various things. These animals were extremely important for their culture to survive. I believe they painted them on the walls not only to honor the creatures for all they did to help their people but also as wishful thinking. It’s the whole â€Å"if you build it they will come† idea, if the people painted these animals maybe something miraculously would help their hunting season better. This theory helps show how they believed in gods and looked for help from a higher being just like we do now. 3. During ancient times goddess statues were extremely popular all over the then world. One of the most famous goddess statues is the Venus of Willendorf. She is the very first goddess statue that has been found and dates back to 24,000 bce. She is a very small pudgy statue with and large female areas; her face is not there and is replaces with grooves. The statue has no feet and cannot stand on its own. The way that the statue was created shows the importance of fertility and women by not only the enlarged breast but the wide hips that would be of assistance when it comes to giving birth. They most likely used this little statue to wish new couples luck when it comes to reproducing and it was a fertility statue. Modern day has a much different view on our â€Å"goddess† culture. People nowadays look up to Barbie dolls and stick thin models and celebrities. So much has changed since then. The prehistoric times and even up until more recent times believed that fuller women were beautiful and even that it showed wealth. I think that our culture looks up to the wrong people when it comes to our versions of a â€Å"goddess culture†. One Mesopotamian civilization that I like is Babylon. It was a land in the Fertile Crescent between the rivers like most civilizations in that time period. They had one of the most influential and important leaders, Hammurabi, who came up with one of the most well known set of laws or Hammurabi’s code. Babylon also was the home of one of the Seven Wonders of the World the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Babylon was a very well set up society and really changed the way people governed their civilizations. They were one of the first cultures to write down their set of rules and stick by them through thick and thin and that was entirely new. Question 1: When it comes to restoring artwork it is a tricky subject. I think that they should restore art but not add anything to it because it makes it a different then it was originally portrayed. I think restoring the art so it is in full form is ideally good because we want future generations to see the pieces of art the way they were meant to be viewed. I mean yes, it is using a lot of time and a lot of hours to be fixing something that is broken and old, but it’s our history. If these artifacts were not there we would have no look into our past and how people lived. People should fix up old paintings, statues and buildings because not only is it part of history but it’s incredible to see how people could build such magnificent things without the technology we have today. It makes people appreciate what they have now and all the advances we have gone through. When it is 300,000 years from now and out pictures and buildings are slowly falling apart we would want someone to take their time and interest to fix up something that we once held as a huge part of our lives and our society. If the paintings, statues and buildings were built and built so beautifully they were made that way for a reason. Art is art and I think we should do everything humanly possible to keep this world as beautiful through the decades as it was meant to be when they first were displayed.

Oil and Gas Problems in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan's Oil Supply Chain Management Challenges Kazakhstan is endowed with rich oil reserves, which provide an important source of revenues for stable economic growth and improvement of the country's living standard. This paper addresses the challenge the Republic of Kazakhstan faces in managing its oil supply chain. The country's capacity for refining crude oil is minimal and a substantial portion of that refining capacity is outside the Republic; added to that, most of the pipelines and refineries to export oil to international markets are jointly managed by the Republic and multinational corporations (MNCs).Thus there are political, technological and financial risks for the republic's oil supply chain. 14 Jay Nathan, The Peter J. Tobin College of Business, St. John's University As in other oil producing nations, Kazakhstan's oil industry revenues directly depend on the worldwide prices for oil and oil products, based on supply and demand; and revenues depend on the cost of pro duction and transporting the final product to customers (Rasizade, 1999). For Kazakhstan's oil supply chain, the physical distribution infrastructure connecting supplies of crude oil to refineries and to the world markets through pipelines, has been challenging and costly.Moreover, currently Kazakhstan is equipped with only a few ; refineries and therefore the major portion of Kazakhstan's crude oil is being refined in Russia. Recently, China has invested heavily in the construction of pipelines across the Republic of Kazakhstan to supply the increased demand for oil in China. Thus Kazakhstan has to manage political, technical and financial risks in the integration of her oil supply chain (Gaudenzi and Borghesi, 2006; Lockamy and McCormack, 2004). In the era of rapid technological development and globalization. It is imperative that every nation adapts to such an environment.Supply chain management has become an important means for sustaining competitive advantage for all successful industries and businesses (Magretta, 1998). The objective of every supply chain, including the global oil industry, is to maximize the overall value generated. The value a supply chain generates [to an organization, or to a nation] is the difference between what the final product is worth to the customer and the effort the Introduction Kazakhstan has considerable deposits of oil; however, the country faces a serious disadvantage of not having any direct access to the open sea, as the Caspian Sea is landlocked.While her oil industry's upstream cost, i. e. , the cost for exploration, development and production of crude oil, may be similar to that of most other oil producing nations, its downstream cost, i. e. , transportation of crude oil to the refinery, refining and transportation to markets in particular, is more costly (Sridharan, Canines and Patterson; 2005). For Kazakhstan to transport the oil to world markets, the industry has to depend on pipelines (Cavenagh, 1999) through ot her countries. Also, maintaining such an operation requires a large number of skilled workers, but Kazakhstan does not have enough of them.Kazakhstan's Oil Supply Chain Management Challenges 15 supply chain expends in filling the customer's request. For most commercial supply chains, value will be strongly correlated with supply chain profitability, the difference between the revenue generated from the customer and the overall cost across the supply chain (Chopra and Meindl, 2003; Lee, 2002; Cavinato, 2002). The Republic of Kazakhstan will do well to monitor—especially to sustain growth — the overall value of her oil supply chain in the coming years. because of refinery gain {www. gravmag. com, 2006).It is important to note that greater economic rewards can be gained only with well-integrated global oil supply chain management. Oil Production Sharing Agreement and Risks in Kazakhstan The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of Kazakhstan and the Ministry of Fuel an d Energy of Russia, periodically set quotas for Kazakhstan's oil flow through Russian territory. For example, on December 25, 2000 the quota for Kazakhstan was set at 17. 3 million tons. The memorandum between Kazakhstan and Russia of October 9, 2000 sets the principle of â€Å"a single route,† whose sole operator is the Kazakh Oil Company.Annual quotas depend mainly on the political relations between the two nations. Besides politics, there is also a technical risk factor, i. e. , the high degree of pipeline wear and deterioration, which may hamper the effectiveness and quality of services provided to exporting countries. In addition, the lack of proper maintenance of these oil pipelines does exist primarily due to the fact that a large number of well-trained local technicians and engineers who are required are not available to day (Doing Business with Kazakhstan, 2004).Kazakhstan's oil pipeline systems were built in the '70s {more than 60 percent of oil pipelines of the Wes tern branch, to be exact) and the rest in the '80s {75 percent of the Eastern branch). Thus, at the end of the year 2000, Oil producing countries and global supply chains Energy makes the wheels of global supply chains go round (Bud La Londe, 2006). A typical oil supply chain begins with the crude oil producer, next, the oil moves to the refiner, the transporter, the retailer and finally to the gas pump where a customer receives the product.The top world oil producers are Saudi Arabia, Russia, the United States, Iran, Mexico, China, Canada, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, Norway, Kuwait, Nigeria, Brazil, Kazakhstan and Iraq. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) controls major crude oil supplies to the world. OPEC influences the price of crude oil by setting production quotas. The values {revenue opportunities) are added by processing and chemically changing the crude oil, which is called â€Å"refining. A 42-gallon barrel of crude oil makes about 19 1/2 gal lons of gasoline, nine gallons of fuel oil, four gallons of jet fuel and 11 gallons of other products, including lubricants, kerosene, asphalt and petrochemical feed-stocks to make plastics. This adds up to more than 42 gallons Supply chain management has become an important means for sustaining competitive advantage for all successful industries and businesses. Kazakhstan's Oil Supply Chain Management Challenges 16 55 percent ofthe pipelines were 10 to 20 years old and 12 percent had been used for more than 30 years.Only 1 percent has been used for less than 10 years. As time goes by, those pipelines are getting even older and that means not only the risk and cost of maintaining them would be larger, but also the situation presents serious technical problems as well for the Republic of Kazakhstan {Petroleumjournal. com, 2006). form of joint ventures, production sharing agreements and exploration/field agreements. Oil is recovered from 55 fields. The largest of these fields are: Ten giz (some one billion tons of predicted oil reserves); Karachaganak (340 million tons in oil reserves, more than 1. billion tons in gas condensates and more than 1. 3 trillion cubic meters of natural gas); Uzen (with over 1. 5 billion tons of geological hydrocarbon reserves, of which more than 200 million tons are extractable) and Kumkola (with 350 million tons of oil reserves, of which 80 million tons of oil and 75 billion cubic meters of natural gas are proven). The Caspian and Aral Sea shelf also contain significant reserves. Currently, there are only three major refineries in Kazakhstan: Atyrau, Shymkent and Pavlodar (see Exhibit 2). Kazakhstan's Oil Fields and ProductionMangistau and Atyrau oblasts (provinces) are the main oil producing areas in Kazakhstan (see Exhibit 1). They account for more than 70 percent of the total oil extracted in the Republic. The other three extracting regions, Aktyubinsk, Kzylorda and Zapadno Kazakhstanskaya, account for the remainder. International oil projects have taken the Exhibit 1: Production (in thousand tons) by regions 1998 Crude oil, thousand tons Aktubinskaya Atyrauskaya Zapadno-Kazakhstanskaya Kyzylordinskaya Mangistauskaya 23,818. 7 2,640. 8 11,135. 1 3,007. 8 7,035. 0 1999 26,735. 8 2,326. 7 12,359. 3 3,928. 8,121. 7 2000 30,647. 9 2,701. 1 13,422. 0 13. 5 533. 8 9,173 2001 36,060. 0 3,405. 3 15,589. 5 49. 4 6,172. 8 10,843. 0 Source: National Statistics Agency of Kazakhstan, 2005 Kazakhstan's Oil Supply Chain Management Challenges 17 Exhibit 2: Design and Delivery Capacities of Major Refineries Plant Design Capacity m In. tons Actual Deliveries min. tons Per month Design thousand tons Actual thousand tons Per day Design thousand tons Actual thousand tons Shymkent Oil Refinery PavlodarOil Refinery Atyrau Oil Refinery 6. 5 3. 6 2. 3 590 326. 8 189. 5 245. 4 19. 7 22. 6 14 10. 9 6. 3 7. 5 4. 677 418 2. 7 8. 2 Source: National Statistics Agency of Kazakhstan, 2005 †¢ Pavlodar (a foreign investor was given a man agement concession in 1997; the plant has been under government control since summer 1999) processes mainly light crude from Siberia and supplies the northern region of Kazakhstan; †¢ Atyrau belongs to Kazakhoil, processing heavy domestic oil and supplies the western region; †¢ Shymkent was mostly sold (95 per cent) to private investors in 1996. It processes dedicated crude from the region (Kumkol, Aktyubinsk, Turkmen fields) and supplies the south, particularly Almaty.Kazakhstan's Oil Production and Distribution Costs A multitude of different schemes exist for dividing oil revenues between the host country and the foreign partner. The usual target for distribution of revenue from production to market is about 85 percent to the host country and 15 percent to the oil company. This ratio can be construed in a variety of different ways with different types of contractual forms; it also depends on the host country's laws and preferences, but in general oil companies target thi s ratio.This number has varied over the years. For example, in Saudi Arabia the ratio is much higher in favor of the Saudis due to huge reserves and tower production costs. In the Caspian, the ratio is likely to be lower due to additional transport costs of getting the oil out of the region, i. e. , pipeline construction costs and transit fees and political risks in the area. Part of the problems with signing contracts with Caspian nations has been the nations' unwillingness to recognize the economic necessity of decreasing the ratio (Feiveson, 1998).The upstream breakdown of costs is about 10 percent for exploration to find an economical field (odds are about one in 10 holes drilled will hit a commercial-sized field), 80 percent (or higher) to develop the find and 10 percent in continued on pg. 20 The benefits an increased number of properly educated personnel would befar the proper management of the entire supply chain activities are enormous; it is a strategic necessity for the R epublic of Kazakhstan to leverage and sustain future oil revenues. Major Oil Pipelines and their Routes MapHere are the various Kazak pipelines and their routes: Kazakhstan's Oil Supply Chain Management Challenges 18 Exhibit 3: Map of Major Pipelines Oil ptpalin «a Existing) prundw eonsiruClioR A Maior Ott nekl RBfinoty  » Planntd wunott †¢ †¢ confl ruction 0 Mil « 200 Km 400 Oil Pipelines Infrastructure in Central Asia Source: Adapted from Kazakhstan Oil and Gas International Conference Proceedings, 2002 The major pipelines are identified by the Kazakhstan Ministry of Power, Industry and Trade as the projected priority export routes for oil in the following order: 1.Atyrau-Samara pipeline: The possibilities for oil exports along the AtyrauSamara oil pipeline are restricted by its throughput capacity and by the quota set by Russia. This is a constraining factor for the growth of both crude oil production and export supplies. To increase the throughput capacity from 1 0 to 15 million tons per year, a series of technical measures in Kazakhstan and Russia are being taken at a cost of 22 million dollars; Kazakhstan's Oil Supply Chain Management Challenges 2. Tengiz-Novorossisk oil pipeline: The Caspian Pipeline Consortium's (CPC) oil export pipeline project is a short-term priority westward.This project ensures an independent outlet for Kazakhstan's oil exports to the Black Sea and opens up opportunities for the attraction of foreign investments in the oil-and-gas sector. The necessary agreements for the project participants have already been signed and operations initiated; 3. Trans-Caspian pipeline: Planned to follow a route through the Black Sea to Turkey, the Trans-Caspian oil pipeline project is considered to be a priority. The oil pipeline will stretch from Western Kazakhstan to an outlet on the Mediterranean (the Turkish port of Ceyhan) via the Caspian Sea.The territory of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey creates risks for the project due to th e complicated mountainous terrain and water barriers and the need to cross confiict-prone zones; 4. Kazakhstan-China pipeline: Since 2004, in the Kazakhstan section of the Caspian Sea, the volume of the crude oil production has increased. The export oil pipeline of the CPC alone cannot meet the demand for oil transportation infrastructure. Preliminary engineering and economic calculations have shown that an oil pipeline eastward to China is a promising and economically favorable project.The Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline project can, simultaneously, meet Kazakhstan's national security interests and provide an outlet to meet China's growing demand for oil. The oil pipeline's route will pass over the territory of Kazakhstan and China will guarantee the project funding. The downside of the project is that the People's Republic of China can potentially control the price paid for the oil; 5. Persian Gulf-Iranian oil pipeline: The Persian Gulf-Iranian oil pipeline provides another possible oil pipeline route to the south.However, severe competition from OPEC countries can bring about a reduction in the price paid for oil from the Persian Gulf. Consequently, a reduced load on the oil pipeline may occur at some time in the future due to low profitability in that market. No terms for investment mobilization for this project have yet been defined; 6. Arabian Sea-Trans-Asi an oil pipeline: The Trans-Asian oil pipeline via Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan to an outlet in the Arabian Sea is politically highly risky, since it passes over the territory of Afghanistan.Currently, consideration is being given to the basic question of how the funding will be organized for the project. Kazakhstan's Oil Supply Chain Management Challenges 20 Exhibit 4: Comparison of Transport Costs per barrel of Kazakh Oil Route Cost to Port $1. 42 $1. 42 $1. 42 Black Sea Tanker Second Pipeline Final Tanker Cost $1. 23 Total Tengiz Novorossiysk Samsun Ceyhan NovorossiyskBosporus Bypass T urkmenistan – Kharg Source: KazakhOil Report, 2005 $2. 65 $3. 46 $3. 17 $2. 50 $0. 40 $0. 40 $0. 88 $0. 59 $0. 76 $0. 76 $0. 93 $1. 57 operating costs to produce the oil.Exploration costs are cash expenditures, which include payments for exploration licenses to the host countries. Development costs are capital costs depreciated over time and operating costs pay for themselves with the sales of crude oil production. Downstream costs include transportation of crude to the refinery, refining, transportation of products to market and marketing. If one were to examine the cost breakdown of a gallon of gas {called petrol in some countries) averaged around the world, from ground to market, the distribution would be approximately: †¢ 2. percent for exploration †¢ 12. 5 percent {or more) for production and development †¢ 20 percent to the host government †¢ 2. 5 percent for transportation to a refinery †¢ 7. 5 percent for refining †¢ 2. 5 percent to trans port to market †¢ 2. S percent for marketing †¢ 50 percent in taxes to the consumer at the pump For example, the costs per barrel for export of Tengiz oil are: lifting costs (the costs to get crude oil extracted from below surface and bringing it to the ground level) $2, pipeline costs $1. 2, transit fee $3, shipping by oil tanker {including other means) $1. 23. The total comes to $7. 65. Kazakhstan's Oil Supply Chain Management Challenges In Kazakhstan the preferred contract form is a joint venture between a foreign firm and a state enterprise, generally KazakhOil, which is the state oil company. In a joint venture both the state enterprise and the foreign venture invest stated amounts of capital, which can take various forms, including physical assets and rights to land. Risk is shared in proportion to capita! nvested. The amount of control the foreign firm has is usually limited and in some cases joint ventures are little more than contracts for procurement. The usual t arget for distribution of revenue from production to market is about 85 percent to the host country and 15 percent to the oil company. Kazakhstan's Oil Supply Chain Management Challenges 21 Kazakhstan has two separate pipeline networks: a crude oil pipeline from Western Siberia supplies Pavlodar and Shymkent, while Atyrau runs solely domestic crude from northwest Kazakhstan.The current pipeline system is fragmented and does not link the east and the west of the country, nor does it move petroleum from oil producing fields in the west of the country to the Pavlodar or Shymkent refineries located in the north and the east. The domestic pipelines capacity will not cope with the anticipated significant volume increases the Republic hopes to be producing in the years to come. At present some of Kazakhstan's production is exported by means of barges to Baku, Azerbaijan, where it is fed into the Azerbaijan pipeline network system and sent to world markets (Rasizade, 1999).The existing pipe line networks will require large investments, if Kazakhstan is to develop its crude oil and gas potential to the fullest. Kazakhstan's major oil ports are: Atyrau and Aktau ; major oil export pipelines are: Tengiz-Novorossiisk (Russia); Uzen-AtyrauSamara (Russia); the Kenkyak-Orsk (Russia) line that transports oil from the Aktyubinsk fields to the Orsk refinery; and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) that transports oil from Western Kazakhstan to the Black Sea at Novorossiysk (Baker and McKenzie, 2002).Even though the Republic has upgraded its overall educational system, especially the post-secondary curricula, degree offerings and the academic rigor modeling after the Western-type system, there is still a paucity of engineers and technicians to maintain and to sustain the growth of the oil industry. The benefits an increased number of properly educated personnel would be for the proper management of the entire supply chain activities are enormous; it is a strategic necessity for the Republic of Kazakhstan to leverage and sustain future oil revenues. Current Issues in Global Energy MarketIn recent years, demand for energy has surged. This unrelenting increase has helped fuel global economic growth, but placed considerable pressure on suppliers augmented by geopolitics and other disruptive factors. On the demand side, increased energy security and environmental concerns may lead to changes in consuming countries' energy policies. These uncertainties have been reflected in the market through volatility and high prices (Birol, 2006). Daniel Yergin of Cambridge Energy Research Associates Inc. (CERA) during a symposium on â€Å"The Economics and Geopolitics of Russian Energy† at Georgetown University in Washington D. C. n October 29, 2007, forecasted that oil prices are becoming increasingly decoupled from the fundamentals of supply and demand (Yergin, 2007). Policy Implications for the leadership in Kazakhstan Kazakhstan is not a major player in geopolit ics. OPEC member states and Russia have political clout in the global energy market. Russia, Kazakhstan's northern neighbor, not only has huge oil reserves on her own, but also Energy makes the wheels of global supply chains go round. Kazakhstan's Oil Supply Chain Management Challenges 22 controls the refining capacities, as well as some of the flows of refined oil from Kazakhstan to world markets.However, for the young republic, the rich deposit of oil is a blessing; at the same time, it can easily be squandered by mismanagement and bad public policy. Fortunately, in today's global world — armed with first-class business know-how and with lessons learned from other oil producing nations — it is possible for the leadership of Kazakhstan to take a long-term view of proven crude oil deposits in the Caspian Sea and within the sovereign republic of Kazakhstan. 7. Feiveson, H. (1998). â€Å"The Problem of Caspian Energy. † Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University. 8. Gaudenzi, B. and A. Borghesi. (2006). Managing Risks in the Supply Chain Using Ahp Method. † International journal of Logistics Management, vol. 17, pp. 114-136. www. gravmag. com 9. Lee, Hau L. (2002). â€Å"Aligning Supply Chain Strategies with Product Differentiation. † California Management Review, pp. 105-119. 10. Lockamy, A. and Kevin McCormack. (2004). Linking SCOR planning practices to supply chain performance. International journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 24, pp. 1192-1218. 11. National Statistics Agency of Kazakhstan, 2005. www. petroleumjournal. kz References 1. Birol, F. (2006). â€Å"World Energy Prospects and Challenges. The Australian Economic Review, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 190-195. 2. Bud La Londe. (2006). â€Å"Energy Problem Cries for Decisive Action. † Supply Chain Management Review, Vol. 10, Issue 6, pp. 6. 3. Cavenagh, A. (1999, February 24). â€Å"Caspian Oil Project Has a Slov^ Road to Syndication. † Project Fin ance International, pp. 50-51. 4. Cavinato, J. (2002, May June). â€Å"What's Your Supply Chain Type? † Supply Chain Management Review, pp. 60-66. 5. Chopra, S. and Meindl, P. (2004). SupplyChain Management (Second Edition). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. 6. Doing Business with Kazakhstan. (2004). Edited by Marat Terterov.London, England: Kogan Page Publishers. 12. Rasizade, A. (1999). â€Å"Azerbaijan, the U. S. and Oil Prospects On The Caspian Sea. † Journal of Third World Studies, vol. XVI, No. 1, pp. 29-48. 13. Report of Baker and McKenzie. (2002, November). CIS Energy Notes. 14. Report of KazakhOil (2005). 15. Sridharan, U. , Caines, R. and C. Patterson. | (2005). â€Å"Implementation Of Supply Chain Management and its Impact on the Value Of Firms. † Supply Chain Management, Vol. 10, pp. 313-318. 16. Yergin, D. (2007). â€Å"Oil Market Fever as Prices Near $100. † Pipeline & Gas Journal, Issue II, pp. 97-97.

Exposing the Mommy Myth: A Book Review

Society has always glorified and celebrated motherhood. It considers it the most difficult yet the noblest of professions. So precious is its position in society that traditions and norms have been set up around it to protect it from the vagaries of change as well as from attempts to transform it to keep it abreast with contemporary ways. In these modern times, motherhood still adheres to a rigid script that is anchored on the theme that a woman’s true essence is to be a mother, and not just any mother, but to become the Perfect Mom. Media and the images of motherhood they produce are at the forefront of this endeavor to promote and protect the ideal of the Perfect Mom. Except that there is no such thing as a Perfect Mom. Media are doing a disservice to women of all ages by passing off these images as the standard they must aspire for to be considered successful mothers so they can achieve fulfillment and contentment in life. â€Å"New Momism† The book The Mommy Myth: The Idealization of Motherhood and How It Has Undermined Women by Susan J. Douglas and Meredith W. Michaels is one work that presents a witty yet scholarly critique of media’s romanticized images of motherhood and how they misrepresent the realities confronting mothers. The authors framed their arguments on what they called the â€Å"new momism† which they defined as a â€Å"set of ideals, norms and practices most frequently and powerfully represented in the media that seem on the surface to celebrate motherhood, but which in reality promulgate standards of perfection that are beyond your reach.† The term â€Å"momism† was coined by journalist Philip Wylie in 1942 for his book Generation of Vipers. He used the term to denounce the way American mothers were raising their sons to be mama’s boys who were incapable of fighting for their country. The authors’ decision to reclaim momism and redefine it was a deliberate attempt to show that nothing much has changed since those war years of the early 1940s with regard to society’s expectation of motherhood: it is the mother who is largely responsible whether the child will grow up into a successful, stable, and happy person or not. And media made sure to instill this in her psyche. This is how the authors described what mothers internalize when they read magazines, watch TV, or see a movie: Mothers are subject to an onslaught of beatific imagery, romantic fantasies, self-righteous sermons, psychological warnings, terrifying movies about losing their children, even more terrifying news stories about abducted and abused children, and totally unrealistic advice about how to be the most perfect and revered mom in the neighborhood. (2) The authors further wrote: No wonder 81 percent of women in a recent poll said it’s harder to be a mother now than it was 20 or 30 years ago, and 56 percent felt mothers were doing a worse job today than mothers back then. Even mothers who deliberately avoid TV and magazines, or who pride themselves in seeing through them, have trouble escaping the standards of perfection, and the sense of threat, that the media ceaselessly atomize the air we breathe. (2) It is ironic that the authors started their examination of media messages about mothers during the 1970s, that exciting period in the feminist movement when women were beginning to find their voices and question, even break free from the traditional gender roles that had been assigned to them. Motherhood did not escape their scrutiny and it was one of the topics discussed and debated on during consciousness-raising sessions. They were also beginning to realize that motherhood was not a woman’s destiny and there were choices available for her. Women could choose whether they become mothers or not. And if they chose to be mothers, they could choose to stay at home to raise their children or work outside the home, maybe even pursue a career. Which was what a significant number of them did, giving rise to a phenomenon that may have, in all probability, resulted in the new momism. And why not, motherhood was under threat, especially from feminism, and it had to be protected at all cost. For the authors,   â€Å"(w)hether you are a married religious fundamentalist, a partnered lesbian, a divorced secular humanist with a Ph.D., or a single twenty-year-old trying to make it in the big city, if you are a female human, the new momism has circled the wagons around you.† The book laid out a historical account of how the new momism manifested itself during the last decades of the 20th century and the contradictory messages they send out to women. It juxtaposed mothering guided by famous pediatricians, through regular media exposure, and childrearing advice columns against the emerging feminist thinking on the political characteristic of motherhood during the ‘70s. It discussed how in the ‘80s, media reports of child molestation, abductions and other external threats against children presented working mothers with a dilemma of whether to entrust their children to others while they were out working. But it was also during the same period that media intensified its message that mothers can have both a satisfying career and a stable family life. In the ‘90s, it is the turn of the celebrity moms, who made ordinary women insecure and less confident of their motherhood skills, and the criminal and welfare mothers to be under media attention. The so-called mommy wars were also being fought, supposed conflicts that pitted working mothers against stay-at-home moms. The authors, in dissecting coverage of issues facing motherhood, were able to show the evolving, and at times opposing, images of mothers in media and how they were deeply influenced by new momism. Most of the time, the authors constantly referred to popular culture to illustrate their analysis. This, plus their smart-ass style of writing, may have given some readers cause to think of their work as less than scholarly. Still, their analysis was incisive enough and ably supported by well-documented examples to be dismissed as anything but presenting a legitimate issue about the myths of motherhood. Reclaiming Motherhood It cannot be denied that in this time and age, media still fail to portray a balanced picture of women’s diverse lives, choosing instead to present images and messages that reinforce traditional gender roles that are very limiting. Motherhood is not exempt from this. As the authors argued in their book, media have systematically presented an idealized, and therefore, unrealistic picture of it. Media’s core message is that women are destined to have children. Their primary role in life is to be mothers who must care for them and raise them to be successful, stable, happy persons. Their own fulfillment is anchored on this. No wonder then that mothers who feel differently are assailed by guilt and a sense of failure for wanting to be more than mothers. These feelings become especially intense for working mothers who opt to leave their children in the care of others while they take on work outside the home or pursue a career. As long as mothers are in this situation, they will forever be torn between two opposing forces, juggling one set of responsibilities at the expense of the other, and struggling to meet the expectations of new momism just because these are basically society’s expectations of them as well. New momism’s supposed aim is to promote the interests of children. But as the authors pointed out, this can very well be just rhetoric, considering how public policies have fallen short in supporting mothers perform their childrearing roles. The fallout from this is consequently borne by the children. In today’s struggle for survival, a two-income family is getting to be the norm. While most mothers may prefer to be stay-at-home moms, more and more of them take on employment outside the house because of economic necessity. It will be a validation for working mothers and how they are valued by society if they can be provided with affordable and accessible day care services and welfare benefits. Or their employment terms can be negotiated in such a way that they can work flexible hours or avail of parental leaves for family emergency. Unfortunately, providing support and benefits to working mothers are not high on the agenda of government and business. There have been instances when government has slashed funding for initiatives that respond to the needs of working mothers. Business, on the other hand, prioritizes profit first before benefits for working mothers. So much for the exalted and celebrated status of mothers, particularly of working mothers. Faced with this, is it correct then to say that motherhood as practiced by them should be less valued since they do not meet the expecations of new momism? Not so, according to the authors. They argued that mothers would be better served by reclaiming motherhood and redefining it in such a way that it would encompass shared parenting as well as support and welfare benefits for their childrearing responsibilities. At the top of the agenda to accomplish this is to acknowledge new momism for being the unrealistic ideal that it is and to stand firm against it. Motherhood can never be perfect. All that a mother can do is to try and do her best. To constantly aim for perfection is a futile and self-defeating exercise. The authors have succeeded in debunking the merit of new momism. And they did this with cutting wit and a scathing sense of humor as only two mothers who are fully convinced of their arguments can do. Their style may not work for some readers but there is no denying the fact that they are able to expose some three-decades worth of fallacious thinking and belief that is the myth of motherhood. Work Cited Douglas, Susan J. and Meredith W. Michaels. The Mommy Myth: The Idealization of Motherhood and How It Has Undermined Women. New York: Free Press, 2004.