The Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War :: Vietnam War Essays

The attacks by Communist forces inside South Vietnam's major cities and towns that began around the Vietnamese New Year (Tet) of 1 February 1968 were the peak of an offensive that took place over a period of several months during the Vietnam War. Gen. William C. Westmoreland, the American commander in Vietnam, believed the attacks to be a last "throw of the dice" by the losing side. The attacks that Americans dubbed the "Tet Offensive" were just part of what the Communists called a "General Offensive and Uprising," designed to jolt the war into a new phase. The offensive ultimately achieved the Communists' aim, but at a price many of them thought excessive. The offensive had long†term conceptual origins in Vietnam's August Revolution of 1945, in which the Communist†led Viet Minh had instigated popular uprisings in the cities to seize power from a puppet government Japan had installed before its defeat. Two decades later, as American commitment to the anti†Communist government in Saigon deepened in the early 1960s, the Communists looked to that earlier event for inspiration. Lacking the military power to inflict outright defeat on the American military, the Communists had somehow to destroy American confidence that â€Å"limited war† could eventually bring victory for the United States. By sending armed forces directly into the South's cities and fomenting rebellion there, the Communists hoped to pull down the Saigon government or facilitate the rise to power of neutralists who would demand the withdrawal of U.S. forces. Even if the offensive did not bring immediate victory, the Communists calculated it would all ow rural forces to disrupt the pacification program, destroy the American illusion of success, and induce the United States to enter negotiations in which Hanoi could bargain from a position of strength. The plan formally approved by the Communist Party political bureau in Hanoi in July 1967 recognized that American, allied, and Saigon forces constituted a much more formidable foe than the shaky regime the August Revolution had toppled in 1945. The offensive therefore actually began in September 1967, with artillery†supported assaults by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), supported from the North, on the U.S. combat bases located along route 9 just south of the demilitarized zone, and then with operations in the central highlands, to test American reactions. The tests revealed that the Americans would remain in defensive positions; and although PAVN troops would face devastating firepower, massing for attack on these positions in remote areas could lure significant forces away from population centers.

Governtment Money

In each country, government plays important role in developing their lands by improving the roads, the local transports, and the school and so on. To do so government has to spend billions of dollars on each project. In my view I think that government should spend as much as money on the basic requirement on the earth rather than spending lot of money on the outer space. First, by increasing the local transport will improve the economics of the country. Second, by reconsidering the old bridge is the safety for the people life. First, by increasing the number of the local transport will increase the economics of the country by adding the jobs to the people. For example, as I remember, everyday to my work I would drive the car five days a week. I used to spend lot of money on the gas, at the same time; my car produces the carbon mono oxide which is damaging the environment. If government spends money on adding the local transports like local buses, subways, local trains and so on. People start using these transports eventually save their money, in addition to that government will increases the jobs requirement like maintain ace guys, the engineer, the electrician guy so on. Drastically these while improve the economics of our country, as workers will start paying the tax. As you can see, adding the local transport will increases the jobs and the people start paying the taxes. Finally, government should focus on the old bridges, which had to be reconstructed. for instance, In Washington, they was a collapse of the bridge on the sikgat river, which caused by the heavy track when hit the bridge the concrete of the bridge was sliced off, which leads to collapse of the bridge, thought they was no life- threatening injuries, but still our government has to reconsider the safety of the people. As they are some many bridges around the nation, which has to be repaired, for that government has to spend ton of dollars. For this reasons I could say that government should spend money wisely thinking about the safety of the people and preventing this kind of tragedy. In sum, we are the people who elected the government. So government should give first preferences to the basic requirement of the people on the earth, by increasing the local transport and by improving the old bridges which is mandatory.

The review of the Documentary: The Corporation

The Corporation is a Canadian documentary film, which appeared in 2003. The movie is based on the book â€Å"The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power† by Joel Bakan. Filmmaking team, which consists of Jennifer Abbott, Joel Bakan and Mark Achbar, has produced a nice combination of documentary movie presented in an unusual way. It explores origins, development and present state of corporation. The authors of the film study the impact corporations have on the modern society in general and individual people in particular. The film presents unprejudiced view on such mega corporations as McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, IBM and Nike. Michael Moore, Naomi Klein, Milton Friedman and Noam Chomsky, respected economists and Noble prize-winners, express their views on the impact of corporation.   They make a good deal showing true appearance of corporations and influence they have on average people. This is the type of the movie, which makes people think and imagine possible consequences of the activities of the corporations we now perceive as an inevitable part of our life. Sharp critics in the movie do not only express the opinion of the authors. Much data and statistics presented in the movie prove that facts given there are not a fruit of the authors’ imagination. The film explores an important problem and those, who care about their own future and future of their children, should be aware of the facts given there. The authors of the movie treat corporations as separate individuals and judge their deeds accordingly. Watching things from such a perspective gives the audience a better understanding of the harm committed by the corporations to the society. Specific examples help to create necessary effect. Originally, corporation was created by the government and possessed specific functions. In modern world corporations possess legal rights same as individuals do. Such equality was primary initiated by the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, which gave corporations or time-limited entities same rights as individuals. Such a decision has had a long-lasting effect including misuse or even abuse of monopoly, additional political influence and many others. The authors try to analyze corporations using criteria of modern psychology, such as DSM-IV, Robert Hare’s and other evaluation criteria.   They treat world-famous corporations as psychopaths. American corporations become the object of scrupulous attention. All the results show that if treated like a person, a corporation would have serious personality disorders. Corporations are estimated in regard to their â€Å"serial behaviors† with the help of a â€Å"Personality Diagnostic Checklist.† Those, who organize an experiment find such things of disorders as manipulation, lying, paying no attention to the needs of other people and many others, which modern psychologists associate with psychopathic individuals. It is worth to mention that experiment is made by true psychologists and it means that their diagnosis can be trusted. Theoretical basis of the movie gives a lot of exact data and statistics. This helps the audience to make their own conclusions concerning the problem. Long theorizing can be boring at times but the authors did their best in order not to miss any important information, which would be able to influence people’s opinion. The authors use strong arguments in order to prove their thesis. At the same time The Corporation uses entertaining techniques and has things, which can attract audience and entertain it. Exploring on of the most influential models of modern time, the authors of the film are far from abstract rhetoric and pathetic claims. Great number of commentators, who express their opinion on the subject, make an impression of professional and deep investigation performed by the authors.   In addition to serious investigation and opinion of qualified specialists, wit and humorous narration style helps to avoid dullness. Computer graphics create additional visionary effects and adds special charm to the film. Irony, wit and humor help the authors of the movie to express their main idea –   to shed light to such important questions as global warming, exhausting natural resource, governmental corruption, human rights and rich-poor gap and the way corporations are messed up with all these problems. The film is challenging not only because it uses innovative approach comparing corporations to individuals, but also because it gives new perspective on the problem with corporation. Filmmakers tell a story of corporations and show how they became so powerful and mighty that even can influence lives of people all over the world. They show dirty tricks used by these corporations and point out the possible consequences if the situation develops in this direction.   It is hard to believe in the impartial attitude of the filmmakers but in our age of globalization where corporation control economy, politics and even minds of people any chance should be used in order to bring truth to people and filmmakers do their best in order to use it. What I really liked about the movie was a combination of different ways to influence the audience. Filmmakers combine data and statistics, which give food for thoughts with the emotional appeal to people, who watch the movie. Such a combination is more likely to target hearts and minds of people and these means that the authors will be successful in passing their message to the audience. Bibliography ARCHBAR, M.,   ABBOTT, J. (2004)   The Corporation. Big Picture Media. The CORPORATION OFFICIAL WEBSITE htt