Japanese Whaling in Antarctica

Japan has been hunting whales for hundreds of years. In the past they would force them into nets and then proceed by harpooning them multiple times. They would then shove a wooden plug into their blowhole to finish the kill. Their have been many advances in the whaling industry including, faster ships and better harpoon guns. In 1934 Japan expanded its kill zone into Antarctica. Whales have been a long and reliable food source for the Japanese people. Not long ago, in 1947, Japan was relying on whale meat to account for nearly fifty percent of all animal protein. There are many reasons why the Japanese continue to hunt whales today. Whaling is part of Japanese culture and stopping this tradition would be considered disrespectful to the country and its people. The whalers claim they are killing the whales in order to collect scientific data and tissue samples. Scientist has said that it is possible to retrieve this information without killing the whales. Watson knows they are doing it strictly for the meat. Over the past hundreds of years the volume of whales in the surrounding waters of Japan has crashed. Paul Watson, both captain and founder of the Sea Shepherds has been involved in reducing this whaling for thirty years. He selects around thirty-four courageous volunteers and sets sail from Melbourne, Australia. Everyone on the ship must be willing to put their life on the line to save the future of the whales. The goal of the Sea Shepherds is to prevent the killing of as many whales as possible while they are out at sea. They have cost the Japanese whaling fleet precious time and money since the conservation society was founded in 1977. There are several whaling boats that take part in this operation. The most important is the Nisshin Maru. It is the ship that processes all of the whale meat before it hits land. If they can stop the Nisshin Maru from getting whale meat, the whole process is delayed. The Sea shepherds do not believe it is legal to be commercially whaling like the Japanese are. The Sea shepherds do everything within their own power to stop the slaughtering of these beautiful creatures. They throw bottles of butyric acid onto the Whaling ships decks, in order to make it slippery and smell extremely disgusting. The acid can be thrown onto the processing boat in hopes of destroying the whale meat that is present. In the past crewmembers have boarded other vessels and even tried to prop foul the other ships. These events get out to the media and make more people aware of what is going on in the Southern Oceans. The Japanese have responded in the past couple years by throwing flash bang devices and equipping all of their ships with LRADs. An LRAD is a device used by the military that uses a high pitch frequency to scare off enemies. This can cause nausea and long term hearing problems. Along with Japan, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland, are also taking part in this bloody killing of Minke and Fin whales. Their are numerous people that oppose the Sea Shepherds actions. Greenpeace believes Watson is a "violent extremist and an eco-terrorist." Others say he is just making matters worse by inflicting chaos on the open ocean. In 2005-2006 Paul Watson and his crew forced the Japanese whaling fleet to head home eighty three whales short of their quota. In 2006-2007 they were slowed down to five hundred whales short of their quota. I think the Sea Shepherds are one of coolest organizations involved in this conflict. They aren't just going to sit on their but and complain about what is going on. They get to the source of the problem and stop it. Whales are magnificent animals deserve to be protected. I encourage you to check out the new series of Whale Wars on Animal Planet and get involved in the subject.

Soviet war in Afghanistan

The Soviet war in Afghanistan was "the most serious threat to peace since the Second World War." (U.S. President Jimmy Carter.) On December 27, 1979, over 700 Soviet troops wearing Afghan Uniforms, invaded Afghanistan, under the control of Leonid Brezhnev. They quickly secured government buildings and the Tajbeg Presidential Palace where the president was currently staying. It didn't take long before president Hafizullah was killed. By the next morning the Soviet troops had successfully taken over all of their targets. The soviets continued to dump resources into the surrounding areas. The first wave of supplies consisted of about 1,900 tanks, 80,000 soldiers, and 2,000 other armored vehicles. The war began and a new president was needed. Babrak Karmal took office and requested that the Soviets units deal with all of the chaos, instead of his army. This part of Soviet troops, the 40th Army, fought against the Afghan soldiers. Soviet planes were able to destroy these groups with little ease. Soviet troops were not just focused on one territory. In many situations they would secretly attack Iranian land to rid the area of mujahideen supplies. The soviet helicopters would occasionally face battles with Iranian jets on these missions. Although most areas in Afghanistan were dealing with heavy violence, some isolated areas were unaffected by the war. These locations were primarily in the central mountains and near Hazarajat. Heavy fighting shook areas surrounding Pakistan. The soviets would take over a region of land and then the mujahideen would reappear after the soviets had moved out. In March 1985, the new Soviet General presented the troops with a difficult task. He wanted them to do whatever needed to be done and be out of the war in one year. In order to achieve this goal, more soviet soldiers were added to the forces. This brought the total number of men to over 108,000. More men meant more fighting and more killing. 1985 quickly became the most tragic year of the war. Meanwhile the U.S. continued to supply anti-Soviet forces in a program called Operation Cyclone. After only just four years of fighting, the mujahideen established over four thousand bases. The mujahideen units frequently blew up government buildings, hotels, and power lines. They would launch around 800 rockets, in one area near the border of Pakistan, a day. In two years they planed and deployed over 23,000 shelling attacks on government zones. The mujahideen also deployed land mines during the ten-year war. Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, were the major countries donating money to the mujahideen. The United States alone donated 600 million dollars a year to the cause. Heroin was being used to trade for weapons, causing new problems with addictions. In the end the Soviet Union was forced to leave the war. On February 15, 1989 the remaining soviet units left Afghanistan. Looking back on the war, I feel that there was not much accomplished during this period. For ten years of fighting the two sides accomplished more bad than good. The Soviets lost 451 aircraft, 147 tanks, 11,000 trucks, and over 14,000 soldiers. Somewhere between 100,000 to 1 million Afghan’s were killed. The fighting seemed to do nothing but makes things worse. The war caused many unfortunate events that should not have taken place. After the war, the U.S. led a boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The Iran-Iraq war and other activities continued to create problems. I think things would have been better off if the two sides could have worked things out in a different way. Wars never give you what you want without a price. Word count= 601

Radar

Radar and sonar brought about a new style of war that people had never dealt with before. The idea was invented during the late stages of World War I, but was not put to use until World War II. It changed how the war was fought and influenced how attacks were made. The new technology influenced both parties that were involved in World War II. It created numerous new jobs for anyone who wanted to join the forces and fight. The Navy was hiring just about anyone interested to train and operate the new advanced devices. Radar and sonar are both very simple yet effective ways to determine where your opponent is. RAdio Detection And Ranging otherwise known as radar will determine the distance,speed,direction, and altitude of any type of objects. Radar works by sending out radio waves and then records them as they are reflected back by distant objects. It does not matter how foggy or cloudy it is outside, the radar will work. Sonar on the other hand works by detecting sounds made by ships or submarines. Britain built one of the first types of radar called the Chain Home radar system. It was fairly effective and accurate for that time. This occurred as other Axis countries quickly tried to create reliable radar for their use in the war. Radar was used in many different ways. It was used to aim searchlights and guns at targets that were not visible from a persons view point. They also put the radar to use by tracking storms with it and finding buried mines with it. Radar took huge advantages away from pilots and their airplanes. Ground troops were able to detect airplanes before they were even close. Ships were also able to spot airborne plans approaching and shoot them down before they became a threat. Sonar was a huge help to the Aliies as it allowed them to determine the exact location of Axis ships and submarines. It eliminated all guessing of locations on the water and provided comfort knowing where everyone was. Radar played a major role in many significant battles. It made a huge difference in the Battle of Midway. By winning this battle The United States was able to take over the Pacific once again. With control over the Pacific, the Allies were able to move forward. It also helped the Allies succeed in The Battle of Britain and gave them an advantage throughout the rest of the war. Radar and Sonar made the difference in the war. The new technological break through increased the ability of the Allied forces to destroy specific targets. It prevented most surprise attacks and protected ground forces from an air invasion. Without Radar and Sonar the Germans would have demolished our efforts in the war. I really do believe that Radar and sonar led to the Allies victory in 1945. Radar and sonar are responsible for most of victories in the war. The idea that an airplane, ship, or submarine could be detected before it was ever seen was remarkable at the time.
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