Chokepoints Definition and Explanation

There are approximately 200 straits (narrow bodies of water connecting two larger bodies of water) or canals around the world but only a handful are known as chokepoints. A chokepoint is a strategic strait or canal which could be closed or blocked to stop sea traffic (especially oil). This type of aggression could surely cause an international incident. For centuries, straits such as Gibraltar have been protected by international law as points through which all nations may pass. In 1982 the Law of Sea Conventions further protected the international access for nations to sail through straits and canals and even ensured that these passageways are available as aviation routes for all nations. Gibraltar This strait between the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean has the United Kingdoms tiny Gibraltar Colony as well as Spain on the north and Morocco and a small Spanish colony on the south. United States warplanes were forced to fly over the strait (as protected by the 1982 conferences) when attacking Libya in 1986 since France would not allow the U.S. to pass through French airspace. Several times in our planets history, Gibraltar was blocked by geologic activity and water could not flow between the Mediterranean and Atlantic so the Mediterranean dried up. Layers of salt at the bottom of the sea attest to this having occurred. Panama Canal Completed in 1914, the 50-mile long Panama Canal links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, reducing the length of the journey between the east and west coasts of the United States by 8000 nautical miles. About 12,000 ships pass through the Central American canal each year. The United States retains control of the 10-mile wide Canal Zone until the year 2000 when the canal is turned over to the Panamanian government. Strait of Magellan Before the Panama Canal was completed, boats traveling between the U.S. coasts were forced to round the tip of South America. Many travelers risked disease and death by attempting to cross the dangerous isthmus in Central America and catch another boat to their destination to keep from sailing the extra 8000 miles. During the California Gold Rush in the mid-19th century there were many regular trips between the east coast and San Francisco. The Strait of Magellan lies just north of the southern tip of South America and is surrounded by Chile and Argentina. Strait of Malacca Located in the Indian Ocean, this strait is a shortcut for oil tankers traveling between the Middle East and the oil-dependent nations of the Pacific Rim (especially Japan). Tankers pass through this strait bordered by Indonesia and Malaysia. Bosporus and Dardanelles Bottlenecks between the Black Sea (Ukrainian ports) and the Mediterranean Sea, these chokepoints are surrounded by Turkey. The Turkish city of Istanbul is adjacent to the Bosporus in the northeast and the southeast strait is the Dardanelles. Suez Canal The 103 mile long Suez Canal is located entirely within Egypt and it is the only sea route between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. With Middle East tension, the Suez Canal is a prime target for many nations. The canal was completed in 1869 by French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps. The British took control of the canal and Egypt from 1882 until 1922. Egypt nationalized the canal in 1956. During the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel seized control of the Sinai Desert directly east of the canal but relinquished control in exchange for peace. Strait of Hormuz This chokepoint became a household term during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. The Strait of Hormuz is another critical point in the lifeline flow of oil from the Persian Gulf area. This strait is closely monitored by the U.S. military and its allies. The strait connects the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea (part of the Indian Ocean) and is surrounded by Iran, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. Bab el Mandeb Located between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, the Bab el Mandeb is a bottleneck for sea traffic between the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean. It is surrounded by Yemen, Djibouti, and Eritrea.

Teen Suicide and Bullying - 1250 Words

Bullying is a worldwide problem that can be linked to teen suicide. The third leading cause of death in youth is suicide, which results in nearly 4,400 deaths per year (Centers for Disease Control, 2012). At least half of these deaths are caused by bullying. Although bullying is still seen by many to be a normal part of growing up, it is a severe problem that leads to many negative effects, including suicide. Unfortunately, there is not a definitive solution to this problem. However, there are multiple ways to help teens who are contemplating suicide due to bullying: seeking immediate medical help, encouraging teens to talk, parents keeping communication open, and by parents communicating with school authorities. Bullying is a form of†¦show more content†¦One extremely important way to help a teen who is suicidal is to immediately seek medical attention. Doctors and medical professionals are able to find problems that others cannot see. They provide hope for teens contemplating ending their lives. Medical professionals are able to diagnose underlying conditions that are typically found in youth who are at risk for suicidal tendencies. Most mental health disorders, such as depression, can be treated. Not only can these professionals diagnose and treat illnesses but they can also provide teens and parents with resources and useful information. Another great way to prevent teen suicide is to encourage them to talk. Suppressing thoughts and feelings, typically makes things worse. Therefore, getting teens to open up and talk is a great way for them to relieve their burdened hearts. Having them verbalize their thoughts and feelings helps them and others to have a better understanding of what they are going through. Likewise, when a teen is being bullied it is important that they express how they have been hurt. It creates an awareness of the problem which can lead to finding a solution. Sometimes, when a teen is thinking about suicide, what they really want is someone to listen to them. They just want to know that they are not alone. One of the best things a parent can do is keep the lines ofShow MoreRelatedBullying and Teen Suicide Essay779 Words   |  4 Pages Lives are slowly being lost due to suicide and not only is it affecting themselves but also the people who are around them. Suicide is defined as taking of one’s own life and it is an issue that should be given all attention to. Teen suicide has been talked about in every source of media and it still continues to have a harmful effect in todays generation. In the United States the eighth leading cause of death is suicide, within developing teens, suicide is the third leading cause of their deathsRead MoreCyber-Bullying and Teen Suicide2391 Words   |  10 PagesSince Teen Suicide is the second leading cause of teenage death in the United States, there is a need for legislation that promotes awareness and education about Cyber-Bullying. by R. Hassan February 8, 2011 Fourth Period Mr. Cicala Robinson Secondary School Since Teen suicide is the second leading cause of teenage death in the United States, there is a need for legislation that promotes awareness and education about Cyber-Bullying. Due to the growthRead MoreInformative speech outline Essay1391 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿Title: Suicide Among Teenagers Specific purpose: To inform my audience on some of the causes on teen suicides.    I. Introduction A. Attention Material: It has been verified on April 19th, 2013 by the Center for Disease Control that for youths between the ages of 10-24, suicide is the third leading cause for death in the United States. (Center for Disease Control: Teen Suicide Statistics, Chart number 1) B. Tie to the audience: Teenagers taking their own life has always been an idea hardRead MoreTeen Suicide Is A Complicated Tragedy1476 Words   |  6 Pages Teen Suicide Suicide is always a complicated tragedy that leaves people with many questions and few answers. When a teen commits suicide, everyone is affected, family members, friends, classmates, teachers, neighbors, and even outsiders. Teen suicide rates have had a major increase over the years. It has been proven to be the third leading cause of death for 15 to 24 year olds (APA â€Å"Teen Suicide is Preventable†). 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Board of Education Free Essays

In the history of the contemporary United States, there has been no issue that has touched off more debate than the issue of discrimination based on the skin color of an individual. The fact that one skin color is superior to another has been the topic of many a political, social and at one point military struggle in the chronology of the United States. In one of the many Supreme Court cases that have dealt with the race issue, one of them became the benchmark of cases regarding such issues, Brown vs. We will write a custom essay sample on Board of Education or any similar topic only for you Order Now Topeka Board of Education( 347 U. S. 483 (1954) (Find Law). In the deliberations that went on in the High Court, the Warren Court found that the Plessey vs. Ferguson decision (163 U. S. 537 (1896) (The Oyez Project), had no legal ambit under the laws of the United States (Nina Totenberg). The Plessey vs. Ferguson ruling of the Supreme Court (163 U. S. 537 (1896) (The Oyez Project) stipulated that the term of â€Å"separate but equal† as enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution was adequately met in the decision (The Oyez Project). In the facts of the case, Homer Plessey was incarcerated for the offense of taking a seat in a tram car designated for white people in 1892 (Lisa Cozzens). Plessey was in fact technically a white person, having only an eighth part of him being black, and the rest white (Cozzens). In the case of Plessey vs. the State of Louisiana (163 U. S. 537(1896) (Cornell University School of Law), which the state argued that Plessey was black under their laws, Homer argued that the law for which he was jailed for was unconstitutional (Cozzens). Plessey further argued that the Separate Car Act was in direct infringement of his rights under the 13th and 14th Amendment rights (Cozzens). In the opinion of Judge Howard Ferguson, the law was constitutionally infirm if the train traveled across state lines (Cozzens). But in the case of Louisiana, Ferguson ruled that the state can regulate the operations of the trains that are in their jurisdiction (Cozzens). When Plessey appealed to the Louisiana State Supreme Court, the court affirmed the ruling made by Ferguson (Cozzens). Arguing before the United States Supreme Court, the Court again found Plessey guilty of the offense (Cozzens). In their decision, with Justice Henry Brown as ponente, the law that separated blacks from whites in the trains in Louisiana did not clash with the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery (Cozzens). In the ruling, the law did not espouse inequality; it just made a separation in the color of the skin of the two parties (Cozzens). But Justice John Harlan, who voiced the lone opposing vote, averred that the United States Constitution, did not classify men according to the color of their skin, and that all individuals were covered equally by the law (Cozzens). Harlan also drew on the decision of the Court on the Dred Scott case and said that the decision will be just as controversial (Cozzens). The Plessey case was at the crux of the matter in the arguments presented in the Brown vs. Board of Education issue (Totenberg). Before the initiation of the Brown legal action, the NAACP was getting favorable rulings with regard to its cases that centered on challenging school policies that segregated or even barred black students from some universities’ schools of law (Totenberg). In the 1950’s, the NAACP turned its legal crosshairs on the issue of segregation in the nation’s primary and secondary education system (Totenberg). With future Supreme Court Chief Justice manning the offensive for the NAACP, the group first tested the waters so to speak in a case filed in Clarendon County, South Carolina (Totenberg). The case however was remanded back to the lower courts (Totenberg). Analysts aver that the decision of the High bench was heavy with political insinuations coming on the heels of the year’s electoral exercise (Totenberg). With the Topeka, Kansas argument, it was joined by several other motions along the same argument (Totenberg). The Chief Justice at the time, Fred Vinson, had just passed away, allowing for the nomination of then California governor Earl Warren to the post (Totenberg). In the decision of the Warren Court, the practice of segregation of white and black children in the schools was unlawful (Find Law). In the decision, the practice of separating black from white children, if only guided by racial concerns, is abrogation of the rights of children of color of equal coverage of the laws as enshrined in the 14th Amendment (Find Law). In the court’s opinion, the â€Å"separate but equal† legal doctrine found in Plessey vs. Ferguson was deemed infirm in law (Find Law). The cases argued together with Brown all centered on the minority children seeking legal relief to their cause of admission into their local schools on a non-segregated mode (Find Law). In the history of the Supreme Court, the Court has ruled on at least six cases all discussing the â€Å"separate but equal† clause in Plessey (Find Law). In the cases of Cumming vs. Board of Education (175 U. S. 528), and Gong Lum vs. Rice (275 U. S. 78), the doctrine itself was not argued (Find Law). In some of the more recent cases, the equal rights guarantee was breached in that white students were acquired with better benefits than their African American counterparts (Find Law). Examples of these cases include Sipuel vs. Canada (332 U. S. 631) and Sweatt vs. Painter (339 U. S. 629) (Find Law). In essence, the Court found that the â€Å"separate but equal† doctrine found in the Plessey decision was not espousing equality, but inequality (Totenberg). The Supreme Court at the time was fully cognizant of the social and political ramifications of the case in Brown (Library of Congress). The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had staged a calculated attack on the Plessey doctrine (Library). Aware of this scenario, the Supreme Court heard the case in as many years as times it heard the case, a total of three years (Library). In coming out with their decision, the Court had ordered that both sides prepare legal briefs in the case (National Archives). The briefs that the High Bench wanted each side to prepare was to focus on the opinions of the counsels if the Congress had this question in mind, the segregation of students in public schools, when they framed the 14th Amendment (Library). Several cases were in the list of cases cited by counsels in the argument of Brown (Library). The first case was the test case sent up by the NAACP, Briggs vs. Elliot (342 U. S. 350 (1952) (Library). In the particulars of the Elliott case, Harry Briggs claimed that the Clarendon County School Board, led by its President R. W. Elliott, violated their 14th amendment rights for affirming the school segregation policy (Library). In their arguments, they used the theory of noted child psychologist Dr. Kenneth Clark, who said that segregation affected the outlook of the child of African American children (Library). In the reargue phase of the deliberations before the court, future Chief Justice Thurgood Marshall concluded that the court can rule against their cause by declaring that African Americans were second class human beings in comparison to Caucasian Americans (Library). After waiting for close to half a year, the Warren Court, on May 17, 1954, rendered a unanimous verdict (Totenberg). It declared that the â€Å"separate but equal† doctrine as applied in the area of public education was not sufficiently argued and overturned the Plessey doctrine (Totenberg). With this decision, Thurgood Marshall led the cause to destroy the legal structure that sustained segregation practices in the country (Michael Jay Friedman, p. 1). In the next year, the Supreme Court ordered that the implementation of the decision with all possible speed (Library). The Brown decision proved to be a turning point in the fight against segregation (National Archives). With this decision, it rendered the Plessey decision inutile and unconstitutional (National Archives). In the rendering the decision, the Court formally ended close to six decades of legally supported practices of segregation in the public schools systems (National Archives). So is this the final indubitable expression of equality? In the article of Owen Fiss, â€Å"Groups and the Equal Protection Clause†, he argues that there should be a new interpretation of the equal protection clause in the Constitution (Roberto Gargarella). In his interpretation, the individual protection ambit of the Amendment must be replaced with one that takes into consideration of the inequalities of a certain group (Gargarella). In the theory, the wisdom of the justices in the Supreme Court cannot produce the equality that a certain group merits (Gargarella). The contrast is that the framers of the fundamental law had the question in mind; they intended judges that will interpret the law as it applies to certain disadvantaged groups (Gargarella). Marshall contributed to the legal basis for the legal motions to be used by Martin Luther King, Jr. (Civil Rights Digital Library). The Brown decision did prove to be an effective tool for the demolition of segregation, but wasn’t the driver to effect wide scale change in the society (Friedman 5). Marshall helped King, Jr. by being their attorney in the famous Montgomery bus boycott issue (Friedman 8). Both Marshall and King espoused together the peaceful way to end segregation, Marshall in the courts, King through his peaceful non violent marches. Both men stand as vanguards of the freedoms and rights that many African American people enjoy today. Works Cited Civil Rights Digital Library. â€Å"Thurgood Marshall, 1908-1993†. http://crdl. usg. edu/voci/go/crdl/people/viewP/6747/%20Thurgood/Marshall,%20%201908-1993;jsessionid=D2867F4E9189C250C91425F02516BFF7 Cornell University Law School. â€Å"Plessey vs. Ferguson†. http://www. law. cornell. edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0163_0537_ZS. html Cozzens, Liza. â€Å"Plessey vs. Ferguson†. http://www. watson. org/~lisa/blackhistory/post-civilwar/plessy. html Find Law. â€Å"Brown vs. Board of Education†. http://caselaw. lp. findlaw. com/scripts/getcase. pl? court=usvol=347invol=483 Friedman, Michael Jay. â€Å"Justice for all: the legacy of Thurgood Marshall†. http://www. america. gov/media/pdf/books/marshall. pdf Gargarella, Roberto. â€Å"Group rights, judicial review, and personal motives†. http://biblioteca. universia. net/ficha. do? id=7700962 Library of Congress. â€Å"Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas†. http://www. loc. gov/exhibits/brown/brown-brown. html National Archives. â€Å"Teaching with documents: order of arguments in the case, Brown vs. Board of Education†. http://www. archives. gov/education/lessons/brown-case-order/ Totenberg, Nina. â€Å"The Supreme Court and â€Å"Brown v. Board of Ed. †. http://www. npr. org/templates/story/story. php? storyId=1537409 How to cite Board of Education, Papers