IBM Corporation: Competing Globally Essay

1.Do you agree with IBM’s employment response to competition from software development contractors in India like Wipro that are expanding into IT consulting services? Why or why not? In order for IBM to continue its growth it will have to expand into areas like India. They need consulting groups who can personalize their product and keep the costs low in markets like Mexico which not only makes their product more readily available and affordable it create a type of familiarity among customers that keeps them buying the same products from the same marketers. 2.Will IBM’s plan to give away some of its IT assets and intellectual property and increase its support of open-source software products like Linux be a successful growth strategy in the â€Å"brutally competitive marketplace† in which it operates? Why or why not? To keep up with the growing demand for new software and product solutions it is imperative that IBM embrace and support open solution software products like Linux. As the saying goes, â€Å"If you can’t beat them, join them.† Linux is growing by leaps and bound and is quickly surpassing the software maker like Microsoft who at this point does not specialize in open source software. If they do not adapt to the new way that software is being used they will be just another software company that has been left behind. 3.Do you agree with IBM researchers’ assumption that IT will remain â€Å"hard to use, expensive, and labor-intensive, and with customers continuing to need help solving business problems† for a long time to come? Should IBM bet its business on that assumption? Defend your answers to both questions. IT will absolutely remain labor intensive hard to use and expensive because technology changes by the nano-second. As soon as one form of technology is mastered it is what I call â€Å"current history† meaning that it may be the technology this is used currently but there is a newer, more efficient, responsive and interactive solution already available.

Introduction Of The Guest Speaker Essay

To our dearest Principal Mrs. Nihma N. Ismula, beloved juniors and seniors, co- mentors, visitors today, a very pleasant afternoon. I have the honor to introduce our very prolific and generous guest of honor. I underscored I am honored because I am proud to say that she is my classmate, batchmate and an amiable friend. Though we had separate groups sila RIALS M tapos kami LDS but were clicked and BFFs,nasabi ko lang yan kasi andyan din yung mga back ups namin na mga friendships sa likod,tnx guys for coming and sa moral support. Our guest is a graduate of our institution LAPUYAN NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL and once was an honor student. She graduated elementary here at Central School and took her tertiary at Mindanao State University, Iligan Institute of Technology. She is a very profound woman because despite of the hardships and having a single mom, she managed to finish and pursue her studies. After those hardships, she is successful enough and had been working at DAR- Department of Agrarian Reform last 1991- 2001. She was a very workaholic and had proven her worth once again as she was working as Secretary to the Board Member for almost a year and presently a local Legislative Officer II at Capitol office, Pagadian City. She’s a chef, she bakes delicious cakes and a very lovable wife to a very handsome Mr. Ian Mariquit, a nurse and a clinical instructor of Medina College, Pagadian City. Ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to present to you our beloved Guest of Honor today, Ms. Miriam Ismael Mariquit a Big round of applause for her.

What Makes You Happy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

What Makes You Happy - Essay Example And out of goodwill or by habit, we actually wish one another happiness. What are the criteria of happiness? By what standards are we said to be happy? What is the road to happiness? The criteria against which we benchmark our own or another’s happiness are normative and descriptive of our condition of being. These may be physical, social, economic, and even spiritual. By these same standards we gauge our level of attainment of happiness. Now, the road to happiness is presumably that which we reasonably have to pass – to the point that it becomes something off the beaten path. But what is this thing called happiness? Philosophers have counseled us for centuries, if not for millennia, about the nature of happiness, and how it is the singular goal of human life. Meaning to say, happiness is the life proper to man. Moreover, different ethical theories are significantly theories of happiness or rational attempts to know what truly completes the human person. Briefly, we can cite that happiness is both at the same time a state of wellbeing characterized by goals achieved and a positive attitude towards change. Describing happiness as wellbeing affirms the necessary orientation towards personal integration. It is when we see ourselves connected with others, especially with something larger than our own interests like God, country, family, etc., can we say we are happy. Personal integration therefore is all about discovering our place and role in the scheme of things within which we realize our life’s purpose. Thus, happiness is wholeness of life. But can we be assured of happiness in the light of the evolving times? Is happiness still possible at a time when most often people explicitly complain from distress and burnout? That â€Å"human anguish in modern minds is tethered to the events that would have caused fitness failure in ancestral times,† (Buss, 2000), is one observation that illustrates happiness as fundamentally an experience of wholeness in the light of environmental change. Accordingly, our concept of happiness must be adequately molded by an evolutionary perspective. Evolution is a creative process. It is the way of the universe and of everything involved in it, including us human beings. As human beings ourselves we are part of the evolving process that leads to the fulfillment of our destiny resulting in our happiness. Thus, if happiness is every human being’s goal, he must be willing to understand the evolution it has undergone. By adopting an evolutionary mindset we can appreciate and benefit from the evolution of happiness. The Darwinian model of evolution has been expanded to include not only biological species but also social, cultural, and organizational realities. Everything is undergoing important transformations to achieve its designed wholeness. Evolution teaches us a painful but an important lesson: the inevitability of change. As Charles Darwin (1958, 444) eloquently expresses it: â €Å"Whoever is led to believe that species are mutable will do good service by consciously expressing his conviction.† In other words, the sooner we accept to live by this reality of evolution, the better for us. As humans we adapt to survive, that is, to be happy. Indeed, happiness is a function of our capacity for meaningful adaptation. Our failure in this life-altering human condition causes unhappiness. However, it is the same process of evolution that equips us with built-in psychological apparatus to help us deal with unhappiness and eventually to achieve happiness. With happiness as the end of human existence, anything else like pleasure, power, and wealth becomes nothing but a condition of attaining it. In other words, in view of happiness which man seeks he inevitably engages in the satisfaction he derives from such things. What is

Hacker Gary McKinnon Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Hacker Gary McKinnon - Essay Example For instance, an adequate firewall of effective security program could have prevented the hacker from his attempt. He was able to hack the NASA and the Department of Defense computers so easily because he was so conscious about his presence in these networks. For instance, the security measures were lower than expected by him. One cannot imagine blank passwords in computers with high ranking status. But within US Military and NASA computers, there were a number of computers with blank passwords. Besides, there were ‘Administer’ status computers with no password. In short, the lower than expected defensive measures attracted Gary McKinnon to be a regular presence within the US Military and NASA computer network. The following security measures could have been done to stop the hacker. First of all, installation of regularly updated Firewall or other security programs can keep hackers away from accessing computer networks. Gary McKinnon’s regular presence within the US Military and NASA computer network proves the ineffective security system which is unable to detect and prevent hackers. So, the installation of effective Firewall and other security programs is most important. Entering the computer network, the hacker was able to access almost all the data without any restriction. Richard Gissel points out that Gary McKinnon the notorious hacker was able to have the privileges of a administrator within the computer network (Gissel, 171). This fact proves the ineffectiveness of security measures within the network. Besides, the regular updating and changing the passwords could have prevented the hacker from re-entering the network with ease. The hacker made use of early morning and late night to hack the network. This proves that security verification in early morning and late night is not so effective to restrict the

Employability and Consulting Skills One Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Employability and Consulting Skills One - Essay Example The role of the bank lies in mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity markets as well as in liquidity and payments management (Bank of America Merrill Lynch, 2014). The National Bank of Abu Dhabi can be thought of as the emerging bank in this sector. It is the largest lender bank of the country while second largest in UAE. The bank in under expansion on the markets of Hong Kong and have its footprints in Kuala Lumpur. Currently the bank is on the verge to triple its contribution by the introduction of sharia-complaint services in the countries of Oman and Malaysia (National Bank of Abu Dhabi, 2014). The name HSBC is the most popular and renowned name in this sector. The company is headquartered in London and provides financial services to consumers across the world. But the current condition of the bank looks gloomy. It is running on a short fall of $80 billion capitalization. As a result the bank had to restrict large cash withdrawals leaving customers frustrated. However the bank later apologised for the issue. The questionable assets on balance sheet are over rated and analysts consider that the bank needs to inject $58 billion to $111 billion by 2019 to stay afloat (HSBC, 2014). It is not possible to imagine a world without banks. The financial institutions are the cornerstone for the economy and contribute in the economy by transferring risks, providing liquidity as well as with financial information to both businesses and individuals. The role of bank became evident after the financial crisis and caught the attention of the people. Political: The scenario for bank of America Merrill Lynch and HSBC are stable mainly because they operate from developed nations and on the other hand the political tremors and tensions do not lay strong soil for NBAD. Economy: The economic condition for UK and US is more or less on stable grounds. In fact, the UK economy has witnessed fastest growth since 2007. The policies and implementations practiced by the

Argue that, no, feminism is not dead Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Argue that, no, feminism is not dead - Essay Example Things such as child bearing and nurture are believed to be a hindrance to a woman’s productivity by the radical-liberalists. They therefore strongly advocate use of artificial means of reproduction, are usually pro-abortion and largely promote use of contraceptives. The other form of feminism is radical-cultural feminism; this group believes that women should embrace their femininity because it is their source of power. They encourage women to explore themselves deeper and find their wild self. According to their view, sex was predominantly a man’s field, but women should start taking control and norms such as pornography, subordination, rape should be eliminated. Unlike the radical-libertarian feminists who view reproduction as a means of tying women down, the radical-cultural feminists promote a different view. The view that, men are jealous of the reproductive responsibilities of a woman and therefore try to hinder it using technological means. One can be classified as a feminist if they believe that; women should have equal rights to men. Women should be allowed to hold an office that a man can hold; also women should be recognized by their talents and not their looks. In addition, they believe that, it is offensive for women to be given tasks based on their gender and that a feminist is not afraid to refer to herself as one (Shaw and Lee 12). I believe that feminism is not dead; to the contrary, it has actually become stronger as women seem more empowered in this generation. Feminism is not dead; if it was dead then there wouldn’t be so much effort to make it seem as if it is dead. The media and other conservative groups argue that feminism is long gone and women do not need it anymore because it does not speak for the majority of women. Whereas its polls show that, women advocate for ideas such as child and women health care, political offices for women, equal work pay, and an end to women violence and so on (Shaw and Lee 19). These are definitely feminists’ stands and goals and therefore the feminist culture is still strong (Valenti 11). In the recent wake of issues such as promiscuity, the rise in women crime and also man hating have all been blamed on feminism. It is now being said that women have been taught to depend on no one and especially not a man. This has therefore contributed to the issues such as crime, breakdown of families and high rates of divorce. If feminism was dead, then it means that these issues would be nonexistent. However, the fact that they are being blamed on feminism, it therefore goes to show that it is still ongoing (Valenti 12). Feminists encourage women to accept themselves as they are which contribute in enhancing their self esteem and image. This new found confidence is a threat to companies that benefit greatly from women who are always looking for ways to enhance their physical appearance. If feminism was dead, it would not be a threat to these organizations which prov es further that feminism is thriving. In conclusion, some might argue that feminism is dead because it is unpopular nowadays as compared to the earlier days when it started. It was a thing of white old ladies as commonly referred to and most young women are not championing with much gusto as before (Valenti 10). Journal It is now clear to me how feminism has changed the world, relationships and women’s view, all at ago. When I first heard the word feminist, I thought they were a bunch of women who no longer want to embrace

To what extent do the news media fulfill Habermas' definition of Essay

To what extent do the news media fulfill Habermas' definition of public sphere - Essay Example By saying meeting it does not necessarily mean practical meetings, but rather it refers to any forum in which citizens can be heard. This essay tries to explore the different ways in which televisions in particular promotes the idea of public sphere. Odugbemi (2008, p.15) agrees that since televisions are among the news media that visually present their news, they have been found to be the most preferred news medium. According to Habermas, public sphere is a domain in which public views and opinions are formed (Marx, 2002, p. 295). It can also be said to be an arena where people meet, share ideas regarding the public, discuss this ideas and finally come up with a public opinion. The arena can be looked at from different perspectives for instance it can be a particular place where people meet (social halls), or it can be an infrastructural communication facility through which individuals can exchange opinions (television). Habermas considers the public sphere to be a utility that prom otes participatory democracy, since democracy emphasizes on citizens’ right of expression. Marx (2002, p. 324) contends that good functioning of the public sphere stresses on good participatory of citizens in matters of the public like governance. Let us then make a critical analysis on the ways which televisions use to promote the public sphere, and how successful they have been. First we have to understand the fundamental role of TVs as we explore their public sphere promotional function. Odugbemi (2008, p. 33) asserts that televisions’ primary function is to let people be aware of new happenings across the globe. They provide important information to all the stakeholders in particular happenings for example in times of disasters. In disaster cases, they make the public aware of such a situation, so that citizens can know what to do. Sociologically, TVs act like a â€Å"social glue† which brings people together by giving them similar information regardless of their geographic boundaries. In public sphere promotion, they create a means through which citizens can share their ideas (Odugbemi, 2008, p. 37). If we consider a disaster case like in cases of fire accidents, TV journalists are always punctual and ready to inform the public about what had just happened. Einwiller, Carroll and Korn (2010, p. 299) asserts that through appropriate coordination, journalists liaise with presenters in the broadcasting such news. However, the fact remains that journalists are always not present on the happening of the accidents. Then how do they get to know what had happened? This can be done through journalists questioning the people who were present during the happening. They can even put them on camera as they give their account of what had happened (Hurvitz, 2001, p. 12). Through such sharing, the public can be able to estimate the causes of the accident and the effects. Televisions are among the best agents of public sphere promotions since their ev ents can be visually examined. According to Hurvitz (2001, p. 14) televisions have also presented people’s views during public demonstrations by giving people a chance to express how they feel about a particular issue of concern. Citizens’ public demonstrations can be of no use if they cannot be given a chance to express themselves. Their demonstrations can

Organization Needs Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Organization Needs - Assignment Example â€Å"Wishes† are different from needs as they basically refer to desires, which are sought to meet an end product. â€Å"Means & Methods† is a technique through which a result can be produced (Kaufman, Rojas, & Mayer, 1993). Kaufman has underlined three basic level of needs: Mega level, which identifies a gap at the societal level, Macro level, which identifies a gap at the organizational level, and Micro level which is concerned with gaps within individuals or groups. The following case study is an example of a consultant who identifies an organizational need of Micro and Macro level. The company, Farradaw Solutions has been providing bespoke solutions through establishing road tunnels, and rail tunnels etc. The company faced challenges when the CEO introduced a new restraining clause in the employment’s contract. Employees started showing resisting behavior and they did not readily accept the change. Frustration grew among employees and even the most competent workers were showing unreasonable behavior and the organization progress started to decline. At this point, the personnel manager took initiative made changes in the organizational set-up but the results were still devastating. She asked a consultant to identify the gaps. The need analysis identified by the HR consultant affirmed that people resisted sudden change, showed ambivalent behavior (Kaufman, Watkins, & Leigh, 2001) when the new clause was introduced. Hence, the basic need, which was identified, was to arrange meetings to make the employees aware of the new changes in the company through ef fective communication so that they understand the reason why the clause was introduced in contracts and to carry out stress management programs for employees who are showing frustration due to pressures at

Profanity and Women Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Profanity and Women - Essay Example Profanity as utility is as much part of language and communication as the norm that defines it as a deviation (Jay, 2009, p.155). According to Jay through the use of taboo/swear words "one can achieve myriads of personal and social goals" (Jay, 2009, p.155). Thus combining the socio-physical context and overarching emotiveness of foul language. For it is at a personal level that the dogmatic inappropriateness of taboo words is initially perceived through inflicted punishment and restrictions. Its inadvertent use, however, conveys a necessity to go beyond the formally recognized means of expression. A psychological sociolinguistic reading of taboo language would probably best describe it as an articulated emotional trespassing. Being extreme in essence it is often associated with extreme emotions and states of mind such as anger, frustration, violence, etc. in the expression of which the two genders perform differently depending on their age and social ranking (Eckert & McConnell-Gine t,2003; James, 1998; Jay, 2009 ). Course language and profanity have always existed in the discourse irrespective of language and culture. Profanity is a form of expression intended to convey a variety of feeling and emotions, as well as to intensify and emphasize a point in such a way that can not be paralleled by using correct and what are deemed appropriate words and expressions. Taboo words are used to express anger; they could be a form of rebellion against social norms as well as a means of belonging to a social group. Their frequent insertion between words in a sentence could be an involuntary way of phrasing, intending no harm and lacking significance, or it could simply be a way to fill the void of a limited vocabulary. Taboo words fall into a number of categories: Taboos in English are placed primarily on sexual references (blow job, cunt) and on those that are considered profane or blasphemous (goddamn, Jesus Christ). Taboos extend to scatological referents and disgusting objects (shit, crap, douche bag); some animal names (bitch, pig, ass); ethnic-racial-gender slurs (nigger, fag, dago); insulting references to perceived psychological, physical, or social deviations (retard, wimp, lard ass); ancestral allusions (son of a bitch, bastard); substandard vulgar terms (fart face, on the rag); and offensive slang (cluster fuck, tit run). (Jay, 2009, p. 154) In Language and Gender Eckert and McConnell-Ginet draw upon Robin Lakoff's 1970s theory about "women's language" (Eckert et al., 2003, p.158). They describe the choice of language utilized by women as historically, socially and culturally determined and sustained through existing power structures related to male dominance. Furthermore, a female is a priori perceived as powerless simply through positioning herself as a woman. Hence the language she uses is a "powerless language" and it prevents her from interactional effectiveness (Eckert et al., 2003, p.159). A type of language, which has been also attributed to other marginalized and discriminated against categories such as homosexuals and people of various racial and ethnic backgrounds. From an early age, people and especially women, are conditioned to perceive certain words as profane,

The assignment is a short paper written in the style of a letter to

The is a short paper written in the style of a letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal - Assignment Example The previous type of acquiring Pentagon’s projects through bidding has been keeping bidders away since complex projects led to (extra) impulse spending. Relying on contractors, as was the case in the past, can be termed as the reason why emerging nations such as Russia and China have been overshadowing our military. The reasons behind this include unnecessary expenditure, longer research times, and an overall lagging military force. This move concurs with the 2010 initiative titled â€Å"Better Buying Power† which sought to incorporate more military research in evaluating which resources were required, and how much they cost. This task was previously mandated to other contractors. If this trend is furthered, we are bound to experience lesser violation of federal performance and costs. I agree that as the United States, we possess sufficient reasons to expand our weapons research programs, and this will be achieved by decreasing our reliance on ‘other† contractors and encouraging more military

The Advantages of Bilingual Education in School Essay Example for Free

The Advantages of Bilingual Education in School Essay Languages are ot only a method of expressing opinions but also a source of information about otherwise unknown societies and cultures. Bilingual languages provide individuals with diversified communication skills thereby enhancing their abilities to communicate and understand words than our family language. As example, in Malaysias schools, students are study English language as their bilingual language. This show that bilingual education is very important for our future. Therefore, what are the benefits of bilingual education in school? The advantages of bilingual ducation in school are we have high opportunities to new Job markets, more choices in resources of studying and easier to learn additional languages. A person who speaks two languages is worth two person, said my bilingual language teacher. This is because that person is have an ability to speak to non-native person and be able to read some information on the newspapers in other language than their family language. Therefore, the advantages of having these kind of abilities, we have high opportunities to new Job markets due to the need to a person who is knowledgeable n bilingual language. People with bilingual language skills are considered an asset to an organization. It helps better understanding because it gives individuals a broader view. According to Argumentative Essay Examples, 28 September 2011 by Jmssilverstone, Since Spanish widely spoken and understood in various part of the United States especially here in New Mexico, learning Spanish would support the students to widen their social circles and lead to more social interaction. This show that learning in bilingual education gives us a lot of benefits and easy to involve in ny works in our industries. Therefore, bilingual education in school give us high opportunities to new Job markets. In conclusion, the implementation of bilingual education in school should be take continuously in each countries because it has various golden advantages such as have high opportunities to new Job markets, more choices in resources of studying and easier to learn additional languages. I hope that everyone will enjoy to study in the bilingual education system in their schools so that they can have these benefits.

Strategies for Breaking Wireless Protocols

Strategies for Breaking Wireless Protocols CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background Starting of wireless Network is a result of a research Project carried out by University of Hawaii. Initially its called as Aloha net, but later it used to call as Wireless Local Area Network or WLAN. At the beginning of aloha net, is capable of transferring 1 to 2 mbps data. But over the last few years aloha net changed to WLAN and it came with so many enhancements to the initial technology. Newer days, wireless networks become more popular than the wired networks. The main reason for this is, wireless networks are high in portability and the flexibility, increased productivity, and lower installation cost. Wireless Network Devices let Users to move their laptops from one place to another without warring about their network connectivity. Minimizing the wiring gives the maximum flexibility over the network and it reduces the wiring cost for the whole network infrastructure. However, when we comparing the security factor, wireless networks are more vulnerable to attack by outsider than the wired network. Main reason for this is, anyone can see and make the initial connection through the wireless network. But establishing the initial connection in a wired network is bit difficult than the wireless network. Loss of confidentiality like password cracking and man in the middle attacks are typically associated with wireless networks. Some other way, this kind of attack can easily practise in wireless Networks rather than the wired network. Even though a wireless network has this kind of problems, its not a failed concept. The main reason for that is we can protect a wireless network in maximum and make invincible from unauthorised users or attackers. Configuring the wireless devices correctly and accurately can minimize the attacks. We are going to discuss about this topic in future. 1.2 Objectives Breaking wireless protocols is the main objective in this project. Mostly the WEP, WPA and WPA2 will be my major preference. So the goal of this research is break the wireless protocol and get data from the wireless devices and the network. 1.2.1 Comparison of Hacking Tools Available. There are lots of tools that can use to hack a wireless protocol. Some of the tools are very user friendly. We can install it on our Windows Based Systems and it does our work very easily. Those tools are 100% Graphical User Interface and very easy to use. AirCrack-ng Windows version is the common example. But Some Other tools are available; we need to have some technical knowledge to use those tools. Mainly those tools run on command base mode and running platform is Linux. These tools do not provide any graphical user Interface, and bit difficult to learn without any proper guidance. But the final result is very accurate than the windows version. The major difference between these two types of tools are the software which runs on linux is more accurate than the Windows version. So I have decided to use Linux version hacking software to carry out my testing. But to hack a wireless network we need few of software to download from the internet. And then we can install those on a Linux machine and we can start the research. But, I think its very easy to use a one operating System rather than struggling with lots of softwares. So I decided to download latest version of worlds famous Hacking Operating System â€Å"Back Track†. It has built in hacking tools that need to hack a wireless network. 1.2.2 Downloading related software. Back Track is free to download, and its open source. Anyone can download Back Track from its developers web site www.backtrack-linux.org for free. So I have downloaded the latest version of Back Track v4 to carry out my research. We will discuss about BackTrack in further chapters. 1.2.3 Cracking WEP Using AirCrack-ng In order to crack a WEP Password, I have chosen few amazing tool. That is BackTrack 4 Hacking Operating System. It has all the hacking tools to crack a WEP Network. Airodump-ng can use to get the information about the wireless network and then I can use the Aircrack-ng to crack the password. 1.2.4 Cracking WPA Using AirCrack-ng We Can Use the same Process to Crack the WPA using AirCrack-ng. Same as in WEP I am going to use the Airodump-ng and Airoreply-ng to collect all the informations about the wireless Network and AirCrack-ng to decrypt the Password. 1.2.5 Cracking WPA2 Using Cowpatty In here, I am going to use a special cracking Software to crack WPA2. The software is Cowpatty. Cowpatty bit different than Aircrack-ng. And cowpatty specially designed to crack WPA and WPA2 Passwords. All these tools are built-in tools which we can find in the BackTrack4 Linux based operating system. So I dont need to download these softwares from the internet. 1.3 Dissertation Structure This Documentation mainly divided in to 4 Main Chapters. Including entire Practical and theoretical concepts. Chapter 1: Introduction In this section, I am going to give a introduction about what is wireless Network, Start of the Wireless Network and Basic Problems that wireless Networks faced. In the Second Section explain about the whole Research objectives and aims. Chapter 02: Literature Review This Chapter Consist all the theoretical informations relating to my research. In here I am discussing about wireless Networks and its Types, Wireless Network Devices, Security Methods that WLAN Uses, WLAN Security Protocols, Deep discussion about WEP, WPA and WPA2, Protocol Hacking tools like Air Crack-ng, Cowpatty, and Hacking Methods that use by the Hacking tools. Eg: Dictionary Attacks, Brute Force Attacks etc. Chapter 03: Methodology In here, I am going to show my Practical Work that I have done all over my research. Installing the Hacking OS, Use of Hacking tools, Problems Faced all over the project and the final results will be my main concerns. Chapter 04: Result and Discussions In this section I am comparing all the results I have gain all over my project. Chapter 05: Conclusions This Chapter will be my conclusions of the Research. In here i am planning to compare my final result and the objectives in my initial project proposal. CHAPTER 02 Literature Survey 2.1 Wireless Networks Wireless Networks enables to communicate devices without any physical media. These Networks are divided to three main categories according to their communication level. Those are, Wireless Local Area Network, Wireless Wide Area Network, Wireless Personnel Area Network. Wireless Wide Area Network has larger coverage than the WLAN and WPAN. WWAN uses 2G or 3G Cell Phone Networks to connect each and every device in the network. WLAN represents local area network that connected using wireless access point or a wireless router includes 802.11. WPAN is a small network topology. This includes Bluetooth and Infrared technologies. 2.1.1 Wireless Local Area Networks As I Mentioned earlier, Wireless LANs has more portability and flexibility over traditional Wires Local Area Networks. In WLAN, All the Computers and other devices connect to each other using Wireless Access Points also called as APs. And Access points communicated with the Wireless Network Adaptors that fixed in to computers. Access Points normally has coverage are up to 75-100 meters. In that area users can move their laptops and other wireless devices while maintaining their network connections. We can connect access points together and expand the wireless LANs coverage. In my thesis, I am going to discuss more about wireless LAN in further chapters. 2.1.2 Wireless Wide Area Networks This is the most familiar wireless Network type for everyone. This networks are Combinations of few WLANs. In these networks, Antennas acts as the access point for all WLANs. There are connections between Antennas to Antennas, to expand the Service of the network. Mobile Phone Networks also a good example for WWAN Networks. 2.1.3 Wireless Personnel Area Networks These Networks are so smaller when comparing to the other networks. It does not give much coverage as other 2 network type we discuss earlier. And this network does not require Main Access Point to make the connection with other WPAN Devices. Source WPAN device directly connect to the other WPAN device when its needs to transfer data. 2.2 Wireless Local Area Networks This is the most important topic of my thesis. We are going to discuss about this topic all over the project. As I mentioned in my objectives I am going to analyse the security of WLAN and Break few of WLAN Protocols. Before that we need to get a clear Idea about â€Å"What is WLAN?† and â€Å"How it operates?† WLAN is same as the wired Local Area Network. But the only difference is, its using wireless method to connect all devices. WLAN combined with the Client Station and the Wireless Access point. The Client Station connects to the AP (Access point) using the wireless Network Adaptor. We can connect the wireless adaptor to the computer using Personal Computer Memory Card International (PCMCIA) slot or using the USB Port. IEEE 802.11 is the Standard of WLAN technology. The coverage of the Wireless network totally relay on the Strength of the Wireless Access Point. Normally its can covers up to 75-100 meters circular area. 2.2.1 Architecture of 802.11 Standards This architecture allows initiating a peer to peer connection between Client Station and the wireless Network based on access point in an infrastructure network (WLAN). The coverage area of an access point called as a â€Å"Cell†. A Cell also called as â€Å"Basic Service Set† (BSS). The collection other cells of the infrastructure network called as Extended Service Set (ESS).Any access point that work with 802.11 standards has this 2 data sets for their functionality. BSS is the most important data set in the Access point. BSS contain all the information about wireless Network. This is the security key negotiation protocol of the Access point. BSS consist of APs Hardware name, Communication protocol informations, Signal strength etc. The Access Point identify in the WLAN using a specific identifier. This is called as â€Å"Basic Service Set Identifier† (BSSID). When Laptop or any other wireless device needs to connect to wireless network via access point, the guest station (Eg: Laptop) searches for the available access points in the area by releasing discovery packets. If there any access points available, APs respond to the guest station by sending the BSSID. Normally BSSID is in a Human Readable format. BSSID also called as â€Å"AP Name or Router Name† by Technical personals. This identifier always represents a Specific Access point. Likewise each and every access point of the network has its own BSSID. NOTE: BSSID is very important to accomplish my main objective of the project. We need to retrieve the routers BSSID before we crack the routers password. We can discuss about the retrieving methods in future chapters. 2.2.2 Advantages of WLANs Following are the advantages. Increased Mobility- Users can be mobile while accessing to all the network resources. Fast Installation Installation of the network is very quick since there no adding wires like wired network. Flexibility anyone can easily install and uninstall a small wireless Network. 2.2.3 Wireless Protocols Use in Wireless Networks There are 3 main wireless protocols use by the 802.11x wireless networks. Those are, Wired Equivalent Privacy This Protocol primarily protect the WLAN uses being a victim from eavesdropping. WEP uses 64 bit RC4 key to generate encrypted data and then those encrypted data transferred over the network. Wi-Fi Protected Access This is introduced by the Wi-Fi Alliance to overcome certain restrictions in WEP. This uses Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP) to encrypt the wireless data packets. Wi-Fi Protected Access Version 2 This is the latest movement in wireless LAN Protocols. Only the Difference is WPA 2 introduces new AES algorithm to be much more secure than the WPA. These 3 protocols widely using in wireless Networks. Every protocol has significant advantages and disadvantages. In the next chapter I am going to illustrate features, advantages and disadvantages of each and every protocol. 2.2.4 Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) WEP is an authentication protocol that use in 802.11 wireless networks to secure all the transmitting data. This protocol introduced in 1997 and main intention was increasing the confidentiality of the data than wired network. Any wireless network that uses WEP encrypt the data packets using RC4 cipher stream generated by a 64 bit RC4 key. IEEE 802.11 has few basic features when it comes to Security. These concerns provide a better security for the wireless environment. This all security elements embedded in to the wireless network protocols. Following are the basic security concerns in a wireless Network. Authentication This is the main goal of the wireless protocols. This means identifying the Client Station by using a password. If any client station failed to comply with this requirement the AP will deny giving the access to the Client Station. Integrity In here, the data should not be changed while it transmitting from the AP and/or to the AP. That mean those data should not be a victim of active attack. Confidentiality in this goal, the Protocol should protect the security of all data elements that transmit. In other word, the data should not be a victim of passive attacks. 2.2.4.1 Authentication 802.11 Networks have 2 kinds of authentication methods. â€Å"Open System Authentication† and â€Å"Shared Key Authentication†. 802.11 Authentication Open System Authentication Shared Key Authentication Any Client Station can join The Station should Provide the To the network without authentication Network password in order to join Network In Open system authentication does not use any cryptographic password to gain access to the network. Any client station can connect to the network and use the network resources. As an example, Internet facilitys in a public locations like Air Port or a Bus Station. In these places anyone can connect their Laptop or PDAs to the Wireless Access Point and start browse the internet. No Password required at all to login to the network. In open system method, the client station sends its MAC address just as a reference to the Access point. Then the AP makes that client as a member of that APs network. The major problem with this authentication mode is its vulnerable to attack. Shared key authentication is password based authentication model. The client must have the password to make the connection with AP. when client made a request to the AP that asking the connection, the AP generate a challenge and send it to the client station. If the client station responds to that challenge correctly AP gives the permission to be a member of wireless network. Figure 2.7 give the clear idea about the Shared Key authentication. Authentication Request Challenge Response Confirm the Result 2.2.4.2 Integrity 802.11 Standards also concerns about the integrity of the data transmitted. This always checks the data content whether it got changed while happening the transmitting process. It uses Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) approach to check the content of data. Once the CRC completed those data encrypted by using the RC4 key Stream. On the receiving end, data will be decrypted and again check for CRC to check the integrity of the data. If the receiving end CRC value does not match with the initial CRC value the data will be rejected and retransmitting will be required. WEP Uses an algorithm called Stream Cipher to encrypt all the data. It expand short version of key in to a random key stream. The sender encrypts the Plain text along with the Short key and creates the cipher text. In the receiver end has the same short key to decrypt the data. Once the data stream received by the recipient, it uses the short key to generates cipher text back to plain text. If one data bit lost on its way to the destination, the decryption process will mislead the data in to incorrect information. To prevent this problem WEP has â€Å"Cyclic Redundancy Check† to keep up the Message Integrity correctly. 2.2.4.3 Privacy 802.11 standards use cryptographic techniques to support Privacy. It uses RC4 Symmetric Keys to protect the data. Normally 802.11 standards support different cryptographic key lengths to protect the data from a attack. Generally, WEP supports 40 bit cryptographic key size for the shared key. But numerous vendors support different key sizes like 104 bits and 128 bits. Increasing the key size increases the security of the cryptographic technique. 2.2.4.4 Problems with WEP Even though WEP has so many security measurements to protect the transmitting data, it has few failures. These failures make the way, an attacker to break the security of WEP and lost the Integrity and privacy of the transmitting data using WEP. 2.2.4.4.1 Shared WEP Key WEP Uses single security key to Access the network. So this key should be distributed to all the users who access the network. So this security key might go to an attacker very easily who trying to get the access to the network. 2.2.4.4.2 WEP Key Size As I mentioned earlier, WEP uses 40 bit Cryptographic Key Size. This key can be crack very easily regardless of the time. So the encryption key is not sufficient to provide a better security for data. 2.2.5 Wi-Fi Protected Access This is a WLAN protocol created by the Wi-Fi alliance. This is created because of several weakness of the WEP Protocol. WPA has some advanced features when comparing with WEP. To get the optimum performance from the WPA, The WPA protocol implements the majority of the IEEE 802.11i standard, and was intended as an intermediate measure to take the place of WEP while 802.11i was prepared. Specifically, the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol (TKIP), was brought into WPA. TKIP could be implemented on pre-WPA wireless network interface cards that began shipping as far back as 1999 through firmware upgrades. Because the changes required fewer modifications on the client than on the wireless access point, most pre-2003 APs could not be upgraded to support WPA with TKIP. Researchers have since discovered a flaw in TKIP that relied on older weaknesses to retrieve the key stream from short packets to use for re-injection and spoofing. [wiki/WPA] 2.2.5.1 Features of WPA WPA uses Temporal Key Management (TKIP) as its Key encryption system. WPA does, Data Encryption and Discretion based on TKIP technology. It uses 128 bits for encryption using RC4 cipher. 2.2.5.2 Temporal Key Management TKIP along with the WPA has introduced three security features to overcome some security issues that come with WEP networks. TKIP mixing the security key with the initialization vector before it pass it to the cipher routine. In our case TKIP uses RC4 as the cipher. This method avoids certain kind of key attacks that came along with WEP. And then, WPA protects the data packets against reply attacks by implementing a sequence counter to the data stream. Finally its implements a message integrity check called â€Å"MIC† to check the consistency of the data stream. As i mentioned earlier, TKIP uses Rivest Cipher 4 (RC 4) as its cipher. Rekeying, also an important feature of TKIP. And the most important feature is TKIP always ensure to send data with a Unique Encryption key. But in certain situations it uses same mechanism like WEP. So TKIP also vulnerable to some kind of attacks which WEP faces. Any how the advance development of Message Integrity Check, Isolated Key Hashing on every packet, Sequence Counter prevents those attacks successfully. The Best thing is TKIP resolving most of the problems came along with the WEP. The next section discuss about that. 2.2.5.3 Michael Message Integrity Code Unlike WEP, WPA uses special feature to check the integrity of the transmitted message. This is called as Message Integrity Code (MIC). This is also called as Michel. This is a short cryptographic checksum that use to authenticate a message. This is also known as Message Authentication Code (MAC). This is a 64 bit algorithm that controls several types of attacks like, Splicing Attacks, Payload Truncation, and Fragmentation Attacks. 2.2.5.3 Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) EAP is an Authentication Method that widely use in wireless networks. This is not specifically designed for wireless networks. This can be use to authentication in wired network as well. EAP use to transmit the packets containing Authentication informations. WPA and WPA2 Networks supports 5 EAP Authentication Mechanisms as it Authentication Standards. Those are, EAP-TLS, EAP-SIM, EAP-AKA, PEAP, LEAP. 2.2.5.3.1 EAP-TLS EAP-Transport Layer Security is well known among Protocol for wireless communication. TLS provide very strong confidentiality for the User Credentials. This uses PKI to secure the communication between the AP and the RADIUS Server. EAP-TLS is the original, standard wireless LAN EAP authentication protocol. Although it is rarely deployed, it is still considered one of the most secure EAP standards available and is universally supported by all manufacturers of wireless LAN hardware and software. [Wiki/EAP] A compromised password is not enough to break into EAP-TLS enabled systems because the hacker still needs to have the client-side private key. The highest security available is when client-side keys are housed in smart cards. This is because there is no way to steal a certificates corresponding private key from a smart card without stealing the card itself. [Wiki/EAP] 2.2.5.3.2 EAP-SIM EAP for Subscriber Identity Module used for authentication and Session key distribution using the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) SIM. [Wiki/EAP] 2.2.5.3.3 EAP-AKA EAP for Authentication and Key Management Agreement is used for Authentication and session key distributing using the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). [wiki / EAP] 2.2.5.3.4 PEAP PEAP is a joint proposal by Cisco Systems, Microsoft and RSA Security as an open standard. It is already widely available in products, and provides very good security. It is similar in design to EAP-TTLS, requiring only a server-side PKI certificate to create a secure TLS tunnel to protect user authentication. [Wiki/EAP] There were two PEAP sub-types certified for the updated WPA and WPA2 standard. They are: PEAPv0/EAP-MSCHAPv2 PEAPv1/EAP-GTC The terms PEAPv0 and PEAPv1 refer to the outer authentication method, the mechanism that creates the secure TLS tunnel to protect subsequent authentication transactions. EAP-MSCHAPv2, EAP-GTC, and EAP-SIM refer to the inner authentication method which facilitates user or device authentication. [Wiki/EAP] 2.2.5.3.5 LEAP The Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol (LEAP) A proprietary EAP method developed by Cisco Systems prior to the IEEE ratification of the 802.11i security standard. [Wiki/EAP] LEAP uses a modified version of MS-CHAP, an authentication protocol in which user credentials are not strongly protected and are thus easily compromised. Along these lines, an exploit tool called ASLEAP. [wiki/EAP] 2.2.6 Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 WPA 2 implements IEEE 802.11i standards same as the WPA. WPA 2 supports Advanced Encryption Standards as the encryption cipher. This is an encryption standard that implement by US Government. 3 block of ciphers available in the AES. Those are AES 128, AES 192, and AES 256. In WPA2, Advanced Encryption Standards using counter Mode-Cipher Block Channing to provide the high confidentiality to the data. [Microsoft] WPA2 architecture must contain following network components to provide better security to the network. An Authentication Server to authenticate the users, Robust Security Network to maintain the pathways of associations, and AES based methodology to provide the privacy, integrity and authentication. The authentication server holds all the user name and passwords of the users of wireless network. When a user wants to connect to a network that uses WPA, The User must provide His / her identical user name and password when the network asks for it. Then the AP sends that informations to the Authentication server to verify the validity of the user to access network resources. Once the authentication server gave a positive feedback, the user allows connecting to the network otherwise the request will be discarded. 2.2.6.1 The Four way Hand Shake The Authentication Process has 2 Parts, the access point (AP) still needs to authenticate itself to the client station (STA), and keys to encrypt the traffic need to be derived. The earlier EAP exchange has provided the shared secret key PMK (Pair wise Master Key). This key is, however, designed to last the entire session and should be exposed as little as possible. [1] Therefore the four-way handshake is used to establish another key called the PTK (Pairwise Transient Key). The PTK is generated by concatenating the following attributes: PMK, AP nonce (ANonce), STA nonce (SNonce), AP MAC address, and STA MAC address. The product is then put through a cryptographic hash function. [1] The handshake also yields the GTK (Group Temporal Key), used to decrypt multicast and broadcast traffic. The actual messages exchanged during the handshake are depicted in the figure and explained below: [1] 2.2.6.2 Group Key Hand Shake The GTK used in the network may need to be updated due to the expiry of a preset timer. When a device leaves the network, the GTK also needs to be updated. This is to prevent the device from receiving any more multicast or broadcast messages from the AP. [2] To handle the updating, 802.11i defines a Group Key Handshake that consists of a two-way handshake: [2] The AP sends the new GTK to each STA in the network. The GTK is encrypted using the KEK assigned to that STA and protects the data from being tampered using a MIC. The STA acknowledges the new GTK and replies to the AP. [2] 2.3 Differences between WEP, WPA and WPA2 2.3.1 Encryption Methods WEP uses only one encryption method for the whole network, but in WPA, encryptions are dedicated for every user. One user has its own encryption method. 2.3.2 Authentication In WEP Authentication, it uses Open or Shared key authentication method. In WPA operates on Pre-Shared Key Method. As well as WPA uses an authentication server to validate the user and it using EAP to send all the informations to the Server. But WEP does not use any authentication server. 2.3.3 Security Protocols and Key Streams WEP uses WEP as their Security protocol. This is a primary wireless protocol that has few loop hols for attackers, in WPA use Temporal Key Integrity Management as the security protocol. WPA 2 uses bit advanced security protocol than both of the WEP and WPA. It uses Counter Mode with Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code Protocol (CCMP). WPA and WEP both use Rivest Cipher 4 as their cipher, but WPA 2 uses Advanced Encryption Standards. WEP uses 40 and 104 bits key length for the encryption key. WPA use 128 bit for the encryption and 64 bit for the Authentication. WPA2 uses 128 bit key streams for the both Encryption and the authentication. 2.3.4 Data Integrity and Key Generation WEP use Cyclic Redundancy Check 32 bit Method to check the Integrity of the data. WPA use Michael Message Integrity Code to check the integrity of data. WPA2 has CBC-MAC for that operation. WEP does the key generation by using Concatenation. In WPA used â€Å"Two phase mixing function (both TKIP and RC4)†. WPA2 doesnt require any key generation. 2.4 Security Threats Associated with Wireless Networks As Discussed above, nowadays wireless networks become more popular than the wired networks. Many organisations including Commercial Companies, Hospitals, government offices and most of the houses use wireless networks to facilitate different services. But the problem is WLAN are not 100 percent protective from attacks. 802.11x networks are vulnerable to certain attacks. There are thousands of papers and reports available in the internet that describes those kinds of attacks and security threats to WLANs. These security threats mainly target on Confidentiality, Integrity and Network availability. WLAN attacks normally divide in to 2 types. Those are â€Å"Active Attacks† andâ€Å"Passive Attacks†. Then those 2 main classes sub divided into types of attacks. 2.4.1 Active Attacks Active attacks are the most dangerous attack type. In here, hacker or the unauthorised party gain access to the system and do the modifications to the system or the message transmitting. This outcome a receiving an incorrect message stream or a file to the recipient. Active attacks result a loss of integrity of the network. Active attacks are possible to detect by using special software like packet monitors. But the problem associated with this kind of attacks are, its difficult to prevent these kinds of attacks. Active attacks can be sub categorised in to 4 Methods of attacking. Following explain those, 2.4.1.1 Masquerade In here, Attacker imitates as an authorised user in the network and gains the access to the network. This kind of attacks can be happened in few ways. The first consideration is authorised user give away the password to an unknown person or a group of people. So automatically they are possible to get access to the system. The other consideration is hacker can use some software pieces to collect the passwords or access keys of authorised users. There are many methods to perform this kind of attack. Installing Key Board Activities Recording software is a very successful method to collect these kinds of informations. 2.4.1.2 Reply The Attacker can monitor the transmissions of the source and destination machines and re transmit the informations as a legitimate user. So the attackers computer acts as the Source and destination accordingly, to get the actual source and Destinations informations. Reply attacks are offline attacks. The attacker first gathers all the data and then later decrypts that information. This informations could be users authentication session informations that carries WLAN password. 2.4.1.3 Message Modification In here, attacker tries to modify a particular message or informations. This could results a transmitting wrong informations to the legitimate user. 2.4.1.3 Denial of Service This is a very popular attack type and very easily does in a WLAN environment. The main goal of this attack is make the network unavailable to the users. it generally consists of the concerted efforts of a person or people to prevent an Internet site or service from functioning efficiently or at all, temporarily or indefinitely [wiki]. This attacks cause Loss of Network a

North American Free Trade Agreement Economics Essay

North American Free Trade Agreement Economics Essay The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States of American that came into effect January 1st, 1994. This agreement established the worlds largest free trade region involving over 400 million people and 11 trillion dollars in annual production.  [1]  It established a new trading relationship based on more secure and more open access to each others markets. It was supposed to bring benefits to several sectors of the Canadian economy. Overall, consumers in all three countries were supposed to reap the benefits of the more efficient distribution of resources and by paying less for goods and services. NAFTA advocates that capital owners win, workers win, consumers win therefore everyone is better off living under NAFTA. Many government officials, businesses, and citizens however, have debated whether NAFTA has been beneficial to Canada. Proponents of NAFTA claim that because the agreement will increase trade throughout N orth America and moderate product prices, it will lead to creating new jobs in all three countries. NAFTA, while it has brought some disadvantages for Canada, as a whole it has had a positive effect. The positive effects of job creation and higher wages has been outweighed by the negative effects on the manufacturing industry specifically, the auto sector. In addition, Canada has succeeded in maintaining high labour standards and laws compare to its NAFTA partners due to Canadian legislative environment that alleviate against downward harmonization. This paper will examine three aspects of NAFTA and its effects on Canada. First, it will look at labour and discuss the effects of NAFTA on employment and wages. Then it will examine the manufacturing industry, in particular Canadas automotive industry. Finally, the paper will look at why Canada has been able to maintain high labour standards and laws compare to Mexico and the United States. It will conclude that any loss for Canada is outweighed by the gains. One of the main issues by labour rights advocates was that increased trade liberalization would jeopardize the Canadian economy to compete with low-wage workers in Mà ©xico and the southern United States.  [2]  This was supposed to push investments away from Canada, especially from low-skilled industries, leading to plant closures and cutbacks resulting in job losses. It was further argued that the competitive environment would causes wages to decrease. Gunderson simulated the possible impact of NAFTA and analyzed the expected wage and employment impact of trade liberalization. His study showed that the overall impacts are likely to be positive but extremely small for both Canada and the United States, as job created associate with export expansion is slightly higher than job destruction associated with increased imports. He also found that job gains would be at the high end of the wage spectrum, while job losses, which can be significant in some sectors, would be at the lower e nd.  [3]  Opponents may argue that this is not beneficial to the economy as there are more people in Canada working in low-end jobs than there are in high-end jobs. When the low-end job workers are unable to find employment they would be forced to go on social welfare such as unemployment insurance. This would cost the government more because the government would lose a source of income due to the elimination of tariffs, less people paying income tax, and supporting the unemployed through unemployment insurance and other welfare programs. However, this is not the case because studies have shown NAFTA has had no effect on unemployment, instead since NAFTA came into effect Canadas employment rate has increased. In a recent study conducted by the Bank of Montreal involving 109 senior executives in Canada, it concluded that majority of the businesses have either hired more or employed the same number of people since NAFTA came into effect. In addition, most employers reported that NAFTA has not affected their labour costs and it has increased their productivity level.  [4]  This increase in productivity may have to do with fear of relocation to southern United States or Mexico. In Canada, 50 percent of the senior executives reported that they had hired more workers, 39 percent stated no changed in work force size, and merely 11 percent reported they had lost workers.  [5]  This study shows critics that NAFTA has not resulted in unemployment and companies have either hired more or employed the same number of people while increasing productivity levels. A study conducted by Vicario, an economist with the North American Agreement on Labour Cooperation (NAALC), supports the findings of the Bank of Montreal. Using Canada Labour Force statistics, she found that the average growth rate of employment from1994-1998 remained at 1.9 percent per year, or an annual increase of 258,000 jobs. Most of these jobs were full-time, as matters of fact, in 1998, 9 out of 10 jobs created were full-time. What is more surprising is that workers salary increased by 2.6 percent between 1994 and 1997 and 0.3 percent in 1998.  [6]  This study goes a step further because it proves to NAFTA critics that NAFTA has helped create jobs and increased wages for the employees. It is safe to say that employers are making a larger profit because they would only increase wages if their profits increased. This research shows that NAFTA has not only created jobs but also increased company profits and employee wages. Kumar and Holmes conducted a study in the auto industry of Canada, a sector that NAFTA critics feared would have harsh negative impact due to low-wage competition from Mexico and southern United States. Their study concluded that production level and employment in the Canadian automotive parts industry grew significantly between 1991 and 1996. They further claim that there is no evidence to suggest that NAFTA has had any negative effects on the Canadian auto industry.  [7]  Regardless of these positive effects, employers and unions have been pressured to reduce wages and cut jobs in the manufacturing sector.  [8]  This is a small price to pay because overall Canada has become a richer country since NAFTA came into effect. Overall, Canada has had a higher employment rate, higher company profits, and higher wages. According to Canadian unions, companies would invest where there are reasonably low labour and environment standards. These investment decisions, and the threat to re-invest, would consequently force governments to lower their labour standards in order to attract new or retain existing business.  [9]  Although these fears are legitimate, studies have shown when investors choose a country to invest, they place the value of workforce, social, and political steadiness over labour cost.  [10]  They do so because high labour standard result into high levels of productivity and economic performance. Satisfied workers are an outcome of high wages and high work place standards that results in a higher quality of performance. Higher safety standards have proven to reduce costly workplace accidents and save on health care bills. Freedom of association and collective bargaining will result in better cooperation between management and workers, thereby reducing if not eliminating costly s trikes and improve social stability.  [11]  Since Canada has a higher rate of unionization than the United States thanks to Canadas beneficial labour laws, downward harmonization posed a serious threat to Canadian unions.  [12]   There are a number of factors that prevent downward harmonization in Canada. First, labour laws fall mainly under provincial jurisdiction and therefore, ideological forces are more influential.  [13]  For example, the New Democratic Government in Ontario under the leadership of Bob Rae passed several pieces of pro-labour legislation such as, prohibition on the use of replacement workers. The social democratic governments in British Columbia and Saskatchewan have also passed several labour-friendly legislations to protect the interest of workers.  [14]  The successful implementation of these legislations proves that NAFTA has strengthened Canadian labour standards and laws. Secondly, labour boards and independent arbitrators have enjoyed greater autonomy in enforcing their decisions though court orders in Canada. Over time, and with relevant court decisions, a significant body of case law  [15]  has developed, and it would be tough for pressure from free trade to weaken this base. In the United States, employers often use the means of courts to oppose decisions by the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB). This however, is not a problem in Canada.  [16]   Third, unions in Canada are often more cautious and political than in the unions United States. Their constant support from left-leaning New Democratic Party governments has strengthened their agenda on the legislative process. In addition, their vigilance against free trade was in a large part responsible for public dissatisfaction of NAFTA in Canada, as shown in national polls, and making NAFTA an election issue.  [17]  These kinds of tactics will most likely continue to prevent anti-labour laws being passed in Canada. According to research conducted by Gunderson, four relationships must exist for downward harmonization of labour laws and standards to occur because of trade liberalization. First, the labour laws must be implemented and actively enforced. Secondly, the laws must lead to an actual or perceived increase in labour costs to business. Third, the higher labour costs must discourage investments and influence plant location decisions. Fourth, jurisdictions must compete against each other for investments and jobs based on decreasing their costly labour laws.  [18]  Though it is possible for the race to the lowest common denominator, considering the inter-connectivity of these relationships and the political and institutions influence working to prevent downwards harmonization, it is highly unlikely it will ever occur in Canada. Many critics argue that there has been a decline in Canadian social standards, such as cutbacks in employment insurance, pensions, and health insurance since NAFTA came into effect  [19]  However, these cuts back are probably due to fiscal problems facing governments rather than NAFTA. There is also persistent pressure on both provincial and federal governments to cut taxes that may result in less spending on social welfare programs. Thus, the optimistic results of job creating and higher wages have outweighed the negative results on the auto sector. Canada has also been able to maintain its high labour standards and laws compare to Mà ©xico and the United States. Critics have argued that Canada would lose jobs due to re-location to other NAFTA partners this has not been the case as studies have shown NAFTA has not resulted in unemployment. NAFTA has shows to increase company profits, employee wages, crate jobs, and increase productivity levels. Though unions in the auto sector have been forced to reduce wages and cut jobs, it is a small price to pay for higher employment rate, higher company profits, higher wages, and the ability to retain business in Canada. Unions thought Canada would have to lower its labour standards and laws to compete with Mexico and the United States however, studies have shown when investors choose a country to invest, they rank the quality of workforce, political, and social stability above low labour cost. There are also several institutions and ideological forces in place that work against downward harmonization of labour standards. After 16 years of living under NAFTA, it is safe to assume that Canadian consumers will keep reaping up the benefits for many decades to come.

Lessons of Equality, Understanding, and Tolerance in Disney’s Pocahontas :: Movie Film Essays

Lessons of Equality, Understanding, and Tolerance in Disney’s Pocahontas Introduction [1] The children’s movie Pocahontas is an attempt by Disney to promote racial tolerance, equality, and understanding. Most of this movie is not historically accurate, yet an important message can still be learned using the characters from long ago. The first contact scene between Pocahontas and John Smith (0:28.34) demonstrates the importance of racial tolerance by showing strengths and weaknesses in both characters. By making neither character the sole initiator in this scene, there is no favoritism towards one culture or the other. Disney also uses symbolism in the surrounding environment and music to help support this point. The Exchange of Roles [2] Pocahontas and John Smith exchange the task of being the initiator in the first contact scene. After viewing this portion many times, it is clear that Disney wanted to create a first contact that demonstrates equality among the two cultures. Pocahontas and John Smith both show weaknesses and strengths, which deems neither character to be the superior race. Also, by exchanging the roles, each character is given a chance to show understanding and the desire to create a peaceful contact situation. An important message to children is that understanding is an essential element in creating a peaceful and communicative relationship between cultures and within cultures. [3] The scene begins with Pocahontas in the forest looking down at Smith drinking water at the waterfall. She shows interest in the different looking man and wants a better view. She begins a tiger-like creep towards a new lookout spot at which he catches her reflection in the water. Smith quickly hides and loads his gun so that he can be ready when the Native appears. This situation demonstrates curiosity in both characters as they seemingly â€Å"hunt† each other out. She is portrayed as an animal-like figure, trying to blend in with the surroundings. Disney is trying to show the strong relationship between Native Americans and the environment. Pocahontas’s creep also deems her as being the initial predator and Smith the prey. [4] The next exchanging of roles occurs when Smith jumps out from behind the waterfall to protect himself from any threatening forces. He is perceived as being very aggressive until he sees Pocahontas through the parting fog.

Dryness and Spiritual Decay in The Waste Land Essay -- T.S. Eliot Wast

Dryness and Spiritual Decay in The Waste Land      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   T.S. Eliot peppers "The Waste Land," his apocalyptic poem, with images of modern aridity and inarticulacy that contrast with fertile allusions to previous times. Eliot's language details a brittle era, rife with wars physical and sexual, spiritually broken, culturally decaying, dry and dusty. His references to the Fisher King and mythical vegetation rituals imply that the 20th-century world is in need of a Quester to irrigate the land. "The Waste Land" refuses to provide a simple solution; the properties of the language serve to make for an ambiguous narrative and conclusion, one as confusing and fragmented as Eliot's era itself.    Eliot wastes no time drawing out the first irony of the poem. In the first lines of "The Burial of the Dead," the speaker comments on Jesus' crucifixion and Chaucer while using brutal sounds to relate his spiritual coldness in a warm environment. In "The General Prologue" to The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer poetically writes "Whan that April with his showres soote/ The droughte of March hath perced to the roote,/ And bathed every veine in swich licour,/ Of which vertu engrendred is the flowr" (Norton Anthology to English Literature, sixth edition, vol. 1, p.81). For "The Wasteland's" speaker, "April is the cruellest month, breeding/ Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing/ Memory and desire, stirring/ Dull roots with spring rain" (Norton Anthology of Poetry, fourth edition, p.1236, lines 1-4). The harsh "c's" and muted "d's" throughout point to the speaker's disenchantment with a world full of paradoxes and dichotomies. The "mixing" of "Memory and desire" only hurts him, as do all the verbs , which Eliot places at the ends of their lines to int... ...o present ideas and to withhold personal interaction, it is difficult to read "The Wasteland" without questioning authorial intent. Is the Fisher King in the last stanza, written in the first person, possibly the poet himself, come to rescue us in Nietzschean ÃÅ"ber-Mensch form? Though he would certainly argue against the validity of such a self-enlarging statement (or maybe not), Eliot must have written "The Wasteland" with some hopes that it would somehow end his land's drought. In this sense, then, the writer is a type of Fisher King, and the new ritual is not vegetable harvesting, but writing.    Works Cited: Abrams et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, sixth edition, vol. 1. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1993. Ferguson et al. The Norton Anthology of Poetry, fourth edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1996.   

Network Troubleshooting :: essays research papers

Introduction If you’ve ever been a network administrator, the call you dread the most might be one you receive in the middle of the night by some panicked employee stating that a portion of your critical network has gone down. What troubleshooting options are available to provide answers to your network problem? Besides having a proactive helpdesk that can â€Å"read† the mind of your network, an important part of troubleshooting involves using a network protocol analyzer. If you’ve done your research, you realize that there are many choices on the market today that may satisfy your needs but make a dent your company’s pocket book. Plus, you have to factor in training your helpdesk on how to use this new tool and if it will provide some type of return on investment (ROI). After conducting a thorough research of tools to analyze and troubleshoot a network, we decided to use Ethereal. Many versions such a Sniffer ® Portable by Network General and Observer ® by Network Instruments provided more options but were only available in â€Å"demo† versions and didn’t provide full functionality. Since we wanted to use Tcpdump as one of the tools in our network troubleshooting arsenal, it made sense to run Ethereal since it supports this type of filter. So, what is Ethereal? Ethereal is a network analyzer. It has the ability to read packets from a network, decipher them, and then display the results with a very intuitive GUI. According to the book Ethereal Packet Sniffing, â€Å"the most important aspects of Ethereal are as follows: that it is open source, actively maintained, and free†. After conducting thorough research, Ethereal also supports TcpDump format capture filters, supports over 700 protocols (new ones are added on a regular basis), and the tool can capture data from Ethernet, Token Ring, 802.11 Wireless, etc. For anyone interested in a command line interface (CLI) interface for Ethereal, you’re in luck since there is a CLI available called tethereal. History of Ethereal Ethereal is a fairly mature networking tool that was developed by Gerald Combs back in 1997, but has only been available to users since 1998. Something unique to this tool is the numerous dissectors that are available. If you’re like me, you may ask yourself, what are dissectors? According to Brockmeier, they â€Å"are what allow Ethereal to decode individual protocols and present them in readable format†. Since the code is open source, you will notice every few months that the list of supported protocols has increased due to individual contributions to Ethereal.

Leadership in Sport Context Essay

Leadership is hard to specifically define, roles and attributes change to adapt to the environment and context needed. George and Jones define leadership as ‘ the exercise of influence by one member of a group or organization over other members to help the group or organization’ (2002,pg. 375). This definition can be broken down with two definitions; Firstly exerting influence over other members and second aiding in a group or organization achieve its goals. ‘Leadership is something everyone would like to claim as a personal attribute, but it is very difficult to get any consensus on quite what it means’. (Weightman, 2004, pg. 129) Many theories and models have been developed to discover different approaches to leadership aiming to identify different traits and characteristics thought needed to be a good leader. In this portfolio I am going to explore different leadership approaches and attributes within the context of sport. Through examples of current lead ers in sport I hope to identify similarities to theoretical evidence. Sport is a disciplined activity that demonstrates a lot of role models for leadership, not just athletes, a lot of jobs within the sport sector include leadership qualities. What makes a leader? The debate between is a leader born or made has opened up a lot of questions to what the attributes of a good leader are. Agreeing that a leader is influential and needs to inspire through organizing change makes us ponder weather traits of a leader are in their personalities or a skill you can acquire over time. Often leaders are associated with having certain personality traits that highlight them as an admirable person. Davis (1972) found the four general traits related to leadership success were: * Intelligence- leaders are found to have high intelligence than their followers * Social Maturity- self-assurance and self- respect and can handle a wide variety of social situations * Achievement drive- found to have a strong drive to get things done * Human- Relations attitudes- leaders know that they rely on other people to get things done, and therefore interested in their team members This traits model focuses on the personality that the leader has on contrast to the job that needs to be done. Agreeing that traits above would aid an individual to take control and lead others in order to influence, further research found the context in what your leading was equally as important. Building on Davis’s model it is important for a leader to be a people person that can withhold authority in a variety of situations, but also with the ability to display their views to a variety of people in intention to influence and inspire. Davis amongst others were previously unsuccessful in showing theoretical evidences that proved common personality traits or qualities. It was soon found more realistic analyses would be to consider the functions a leader demonstrate in order to fulfill his task specific to the context. Sport can be individual or team based but will still involve numerous people. A leadership model discovered in 1982 demonstrates the need of three leadership functions I found present in most sport leaders. These are: the task to be accomplished together, maintaining social cohesion of the group and individual needs of team members. This model shows the three independent functions and how they overlap to form a leadership style that focuses on achieving the outcome of the leader in this case success for a sports team or individual. If the task fails or performed badly, there is diminished satisfaction for the individual and the group tends to fall apart. If the group lacks unity, this will also affect performance. If the individual is discontented, then he or she will not give his or her best performance. This emphasizes the essential of unity of leadership, demonstrating a single action by a leader may influence all areas, and is specific to a sport context. Example Sven- Goran Eriksson- team manager of various football teams (including England) (www.guardian.co.uk) Sven admirable leadership displays most of Davis personality traits alongside achieving success for himself and various teams. Sven’s cosmopolitan background gives him an advantage within a wide audience of players and is well known for his expertise within football. Despite not getting too attached to people, that enforces authority; he creates empathy and trust within all he leads. A strong attribute is his diplomatic approach, he is seen to support and value the work of others. Demonstrating his ability in leading various teams to success he relates to Adair’s model. Maintaining a good cohesion between the team is very important within football but he doesn’t neglect the individual players needs. He implements their opinion into making good decisions for the team as a whole to lead them to success. Transformational Leadership Transformational leadership is best describes a leader who effects followers who are intended to trust, admire and respect. They are known for following and seeing through a personal vision whilst gaining trust of supporters. James Macgregor Burns introduced a concept of transformational leadership in his book Leadership in 1978. He defines ‘leaders and followers make each other to advance to a higher level of moral and motivation. Through the strength of their vision and personality, transformational leaders are able to inspire followers to change expectations, perceptions and motivations to work towards common goals’ (pg. 203, 2012). A sporting example of a transformation leader is Paula Radcliffe. Paula relates heavily to a later theory developed by Bernard M. Bass. Bass’s Transformational Leadership Theory He suggested leadership is defined as the impact it has on followers Burns identified 3 ways in which leaders transform their followers * Increasing their awareness of task importance and value * Getting them to focus first on team of organizational goals, rather than their own interests * Activating there higher-order needs Agreeing that people will follow a person who inspires them. Such individual needs to have a vision and passion and quest to achieve great things. ‘She puts all her energy and time in quest to be the best distance runner in the world’ (www.bbcsport.com) (www.sportsjournalists.co.uk) Yet to win an Olympic medal, all due to injury, she has brought the women’s marathon running to a new level and pushed the limits where no other women have gone. Paula supported many charities, alongside the progression of keen runners during her career. In 2004 she inspired many when joining Jonathan Edwards on an Olympic Special Millionaire, raising  £64,000 for charity. Excluding her physical achievements but she has been recognized for her personality and good sportsmanship through a number of awards. (Taken from my presentation) Ethical Leadership â€Å"Rowe (1997) points out, ethics can be taught in two very different ways. It can be taught using the models of absolute values, or as theologians and philosophers call them ‘ first principles’- That is, the absolute right and wrong ways of doing things. But it can also be taught in terms of how we all have our own way of seeing things. According to this view, values are relative to individuals and the situations in which they find themselves- the right way depends on the context†. Ethics pays an important part in sport for it is the discipline in rules and regulations that gives the entitlement to win and loose competition. Current competition requires a lot of testing prior, during and post competition in order to detect various methods of cheating. Many sports could be seen as unethical due to bad press of officiators, rules and regulations. The importance of ethics in sports defines giving everyone an equal opportunity showing no favouritism or discrimination. Paula highly demonstrates the traits of an ethical leader. Her career has consisted of fighting defend the fair-ness and reputation of the sport. ‘Most athletes were clean and we’re increasing becoming un-happy at the way the sport was being portrayed’ (www.paularadcliffe.com) Proving her ethical leadership qualities I have related Paula to the below model. This model states seven habits that a discovered commonly in ethical leaders. Seven Habits of Strong Ethical Leaders- Stephen R. Covey 1. Strong Personal Character 2. Passion to do right 3. Proactive Behavior 4. Stakeholder interest in mind 5. Recognition of their values as role models 6. Awareness that their decision making should be transparent 7. Holistic view of human beings and firm’s ethical culture Paula’s willingness to stand up for her rights and correct the sport permanently for others, was demonstrated by launched her campaign against ‘drugs in sport’ Despite the amount of drug tests required, it was discovered that the system was not capable of detecting the most effect and abused doping product using in running. She quotes ‘fear is no reason not to do what is right’ (www.paularadcliffe.com) In 2001 at Edmonton she held up a sign saying ‘EPO cheats out’. This was particularly aimed at a competitor that had been tested and found guilty of the blood doping, yet the result was over turned because the French testing authorities did not adhere to IAAF protocol. (www.paularadcliffe.com/gallery/images/08.jpg) Does Gender Effect Leadership? Sport is frequently seen as a masculine dominated sector. â€Å"Sport has been demonstrated to help some women achieve empowerment†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Theberge and Birrell, 1994, pg. 147) In all previous leadership theories mentioned none are specific to gender. With this is mind; still women in leadership are found to be in the minority. Fred Fielder recognises the effectiveness of a task should be considered in defining leadership. His Contingency theory of leadership, developed in 1961, focuses on 1) Why in a particular situations, some leaders will be more effective than other leaders even though they have equally good credentials. 2) Why a particular leader may be more effective in one situation and not another â€Å"Although women’s participation has risen, women’s involvement in sport as providers has dropped†. (Sports Council, 1992) The recent rise in women participating sport has lead to success in gaining responsibility in areas of sport such as leadership and coaching. The theory above I find is relevant for it can be used against women who are seen as good leaders just would be put out of context when it comes to sport. An example within sport is an American, Shannon Eastin Shannon Eastin made history by being the first female official in a male dominated sport, relating to fielders theory she was seen out of context for the job and is now recognised for her confidence of breaking the stereotype. Shannon became Inspirational for Women who feel not equal to take part in male orientated sports. (www.chargers.com) David Cotter et al defined four distinctive characteristics in his Glass Ceiling Approach (1988) 1. â€Å"A glass ceiling inequality represents a gender or racial difference that is not explained by other job-relevant characteristics of the employee.† 2. â€Å"A glass ceiling inequality represents a gender or racial difference that is greater at higher levels of an outcome than at lower levels of an outcome. 3. â€Å"A glass ceiling inequality represents a gender or racial inequality in the chances of advancement into higher levels, not merely the proportions of each gender or race currently at those higher levels.† 4. â€Å"A glass ceiling inequality represents a gender or racial inequality that increases over the course of a career.† This approach is commonly used when individuals or groups are stereotyped and therefore seen as unusual or abstract to be breaking these barriers. When successful of breaking the prejudice against them it is seen as breaking through the barrier to the glass celling. Previous women leaders in sport are seen to be very inspirational, they are made to feel not equal to take part in male orientated sports and therefore demonstrate the glass barrier celling approach when they do a lot making history for women in that context. Even though they might break down these barriers they still not be highly respected and followed by all and will be not seen as equal by all. In todays society there are many powerful female role models. An example in sport is Jessica Ennis. Through the 2012 Olympic she demonstrated her talents and perseverance in sport that achieved amazing results. (www.mirror.co.uk) Conclusion In developing my research from the tutorials I have found leaders are adaptable not only to context, but to individuals. People will find different qualities within the same person that they consider being a trait of a leader. â€Å"Even researches often disagree about which characteristics best describe leadership†¦Ã¢â‚¬ (George et Jones, 2005,pg. 275). Theories and Models help display similar characteristics within leaders but shouldn’t be used to define what a leader should be. Transformation and Ethical leaders are very common within sport for they are found to be influential to their public and demonstrate good morals within sport. All the leaders used in this portfolio are respected, followed and successful in completing their task in hand whilst being influential.

Geopolitics in Asia Essay

The study of the relationship among politics and geography, demography, and economics especially with respect to the foreign policy of a nation. The study of geographic influences on power relationships in international politics. Geopolitical theorists have sought to demonstrate the importance in the determination of foreign policies of considerations such as the acquisition of natural boundaries, access to important sea routes, and the control of strategically important land areas. The term was first employed in the early 20th century by the Swedish political scientist Rudolph Kjellen (1864 – 1922). Geopolitical factors have become less significant in the foreign policies of states because of improvements in communications and transportation. Geopolitics in Asia: Russia, India and Pakistan-China Cooperation With Russian President Vladimir Putin planning to visit Pakistan, some of my Indian friendsjournalists believe that the proposed trip is a kind of punishment for India because of Delhi’s ‘proAmerican’ foreign policy. I think that such a simplistic explanation underestimates the complexity of the situation in the southern part of central Eurasia, which will experience new changes after foreign troops withdraw from Afghanistan. And then a new geopolitical equation will emerge, where Pakistan and its geopolitical alliance with China will surely be the central element due to historical reasons and geographical circumstances. In 1950, Pakistan was one of the first countries to recognize the People’s Republic of China, while in the 1960s to early 1970s it remained Beijing’s most steadfast ally during a period of a relative international isolation of the latter. China appreciates this support by providing Pakistan with both military, and technical and economic assistance, including the transfer of nuclear technology. Some experts believe that strengthening multilateral connections between India and the U. S. will make strategic alliance relations between Islamabad and Beijing even closer, even more so, because the Pakistani elite considers the partnership with China to be a security guarantee. Military-technical cooperation (MTC) of Islamabad and Beijing is carried out in three main areas: Rockets: Pakistani armed forces have short range and medium range missiles that experts regard as a ‘modification of Chinese allistic missiles’; Combat aircraft: the Pakistani Air Force has aircraft of Chinese design – JF-17 Thunder and K-8 Karakorum, as well as the co-produced interceptor aircraft. In addition, the Pakistani Air Force uses the early warning radar system made in China (U. S. experts believe that the delay in the transfer of the remains of the stealth helicopter that took part in the elimination of Osama bin Laden on May 2, 2011, was associated with its preliminary study by t he Chinese military); Nuclear program: it is believed that China could have transferred to Pakistan the technologies that are critical to the production of nuclear weapons. In addition to MTC, Pakistan and China are actively developing economic relations; their development acceleration was caused by a Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement of 2008. By some estimates, the bilateral trade is approaching $15 billion. With China’s help, long-term infrastructure projects are being implemented in Pakistan, covering road construction, minerals development (including copper and gold), the classical energy manufacturing as well as several projects in the nuclear / non-classical energy field. An important object of the joint activity was the construction of the deepwater port of Gwadar in Baluchistan Province (the port complex operation was started in December 2008. ). This port, located at 180 nautical miles from the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 40% of the world’s supply of oil by water is accomplished, is of strategic importance to Beijing as well. First, it provides diversification and hydrocarbons-supply protection and, secondly, it is possible to access the Arabian Sea through Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), which is important for the overall economic security of China. Formally, Pakistan has two main strategic allies – China and the United States. However, in the light of the events in 2011 the country’s ruling circles have lost confidence in America and increasingly rely on China, referred to, at an informal level, as the ‘all-weather ally’. (An important factor in the growth of Islamabad’s distrust to Washington was the US-Indian ‘nuclear deal’ that has in fact excluded India, according to Pakistani officials, from the nuclear non-proliferation regime. ) The decision by China to build two nuclear reactors in Pakistan, in addition to the existing ones, was a vivid demonstration of mutual trust. However, there are still some problems in the ‘all-weather allies’ relationship. China’s elite is concerned with the high level of political extremism in Pakistan. Beijing is worried about the growing militancy of the Uighurs operating from the tribal area of Pakistan. According to experts, a significant number of Uighurs who attended madrassas in Pakistan in the 1980s have been subsequently mobilized to units operating on the territory of Afghanistan – first against the Soviet troops and later against the combined forces of the U. S. and its allies in their fight against the Taliban. A certain faction of the Uighurs – ‘Mujahideen’ – apparently returned to China. Another cause of concern in Beijing is the frequent attacks of political radicals against Chinese nationals working in Pakistan on contract (more than 10,000 people). The situation is particularly difficult in the province of Baluchistan, in the western part of the country. Therefore, Beijing, preoccupied as it is with the safety of its citizens as well as the country’s prestige in the Muslim world, does not put a special emphasis on combating terrorism in Pakistan, in fact, entrusting a major role in this campaign to the United States. In its turn, Washington takes into account China’s growing concern over proactive forces of political Islam in Pakistan, seeing the coincidence of the United States’ and China’s long-term strategic interests in combating radicalism. China seeks to maintain a strategic policy toward Pakistan that blends the two contradictory principles: 1) restriction of the geopolitical influence of the U. S. and India in South Asia, and 2) protection of the Celestial Empire against political extremism emanating from the Pakistani territory. This task is solved both by the balanced development of relations with Islamabad and Delhi, and through the promotion of good neighbourly relations between the two ‘historic rivals’. This, among other things, is due to the relatively ‘impartial’ policy of the Middle Kingdom, in particular regarding the ‘Kashmir problem’. Such a compromise position of Beijing is apparently connected with the fears of a possible impact of the ‘demonstration effect’ of fermentation in the ‘big’, i. e. historical, Kashmir on tentative ethnic and religious turmoil in Xinjiang and Tibet. PT-2 A point of view has long been firmly established among Indian political analysts that the only function of relations between China and Pakistan is that of ‘containment’ of India in South Asia. It is difficult to deny the logic of such geopolitical constructions, but this position underestimates the importance of trends that cause a significant external impact on the internal political situation in China during the last decade. The permanent destabilising impact of events in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region (XUAR) on the overall development of China is a recognized fact. Moreover, political circles in Beijing do not rule out the possibility that supporters of the ‘independent Uighur state’ operating from the KhyberPakhtunkhwa or North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) territory of Pakistan are supported by the USA and some Muslim states. Therefore, Beijing endeavours to use various options to neutralise the forces of political Islam in Xinjiang, including those at the state level (Xinjiang is a home to over eight million Uighurs, the most radical of them are seeking to establish an independent state – ‘East Turkistan’). In this direction the China’s policy towards Pakistan has adopted new important points. On the one hand, Beijing was satisfied with a full support of action to eliminate disturbances in Urumqi in July 2009 by the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari, the leader of a ‘core’ Muslim state that has formally dissociated itself from the ‘International Islamic Resistance Movement’ in Xinjiang. On the other hand, China has doubts about the Pakistan authorities’ ability to exercise effective control over all its territory. Beijing is not fully convinced in the effectiveness of such controls and some of Islamabad’s steps taken against extremists, in particular the stringent restrictive measures against the Uighur settlements and their religious schools in Pakistan that have become ‘nurseries’ for the future separatists. The doubts took the form of a direct agreement on multilateral cooperation between the PRC Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan. The goal of the agreement is establishing direct contacts with the NWFP leaders in order to suppress the activities of Islamists carried out from the territory of the province. The agreement, however, has a significant socio-economic content. Its ‘supporting structure’ seems to be the broadening (with China’s help) of the Karakorum Highway, which is strategic for both countries and (through the Khunjerab pass located at an altitude of 4,693 metres above the sea level) connects Xinjiang and NWFP. The Pakistani authorities seek to persuade China about the appropriateness of using the Karakorum Highway as a main international communication link for the delivery of imports to China from Pakistan’s ports, particularly from Gwadar in the Arabian Sea that has been modernised with the Beijing’s help. The agreement also provides for cooperation in the field of interregional trade, science and technology, culture, education, health, agriculture, sports and tourism. It can be noted: filling the NWFP agreement with specific content, China will seek to engage as much of economically active population as possible in the bilateral interregional ties cycle, and thus bind their potentially destructive to China activities in Xinjiang. Interregional relations are only a part of the Beijing’s general course for stabilising the situation in Pakistan. The PRC leadership is aware that Pakistan’s problems are of structural and systemic origin, and that they are generated by the state’s government course that is constantly and on an extended basis reproducing the contradictions that threaten the unity and territorial integrity of the country. Beijing wants to diversify its geopolitical strategy towards Pakistan and the South Asia as a whole. First, Beijing seems to be confident that because of its involvement in military activities in Afghanistan, the U. S. positions in Pakistan have been subtly but irreversibly weakening. The new ‘equation’ of geopolitical power in Central Asia is indicative of China emerging as a dominant economic â€Å"actor† in the area. Beijing carries out the tactics of gently pushing the U. S. out of Pakistan through the time tested and proven practice of foreign economic relations expansion. In addition, Pakistan is counting on China’s substantial financial assistance, as well as cooperation in the ‘classical’ energy field, primarily the construction of hydropower stations along the lines of tested Chinese projects (based on the experience of the ‘Three Gorges’ project on Yangtze River) in the mountains. Second, true to its strategic principle of ‘economy defines geopolitics,’ China actively participates in the modernisation of transport infrastructure in Pakistan. In fact, the implementation of projects in this area is subject to reaching a two-in one objective: to ensure safe transportation of energy carriers on the Persian Gulf – South China Sea route and limit the U. S. influence in the regions of the Middle East, South and Central Asia that are a ‘sensitive’ spot for China. The above-mentioned project – the Gwadar port in the north-western part of the Arabian Sea – is an ideal place for observing the movement of vehicles and naval vessels coming from the Persian Gulf towards the East, and – if necessary – can be used to protect the vehicles delivering energy resources to the Far East. In particular, the active participation of experts from China in modernising bases and stations of Pakistan Navy submarines, which can also be used by Chinese submarines, speaks in favour of this assumption. Third, according to media reports, China intends to seek permission to open a military base in Pakistan. Military experts believe that there are at least three strategic objectives pursued: providing a ‘soft’ military-political pressure on India; limiting U. S. influence in Pakistan and Afghanistan; direct supervising over the activities of the ‘Uighur separatists’ in the NWFP of Pakistan. Fourth, according to Indian press, China has become a major supplier of military equipment to Pakistan. Currently, the Pakistani army is allegedly armed with Chinese military equipment to the tune of 70 percent. Moreover, citing some military sources in Delhi, the Indian press says: If the prospect of receiving the Russian fifth generation fighter by the Indian Air Force is materialised, Pakistan will turn for help to China also carrying research in this area of military construction. And finally, for Pakistan, China remains an indispensable ally and partner in the improvement of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems since 1976. And there is no evidence of terminating that assistance in the foreseeable future.