dorje global blog

Mikhail Gorbachev and the Collapse of Communism

2009-05-13T07:09:00.000-07:00

Explain how Mikhail Gorbachev opened up the Soviet Union and paved the way for the end of Communism.
One-way Mikhail Gorbachev was by adding more churches. He wanted others to talk about their society and figure out ways to make the society better after all the issue they went through. Gorbachev wanted more people to start talking about their society. Basically how they can make it better.
Glasnost =an official policy of the former Soviet government emphasizing candor with regard to discussion of social problems and shortcomings. During this, people talk about Soviet Union's issues like economy and political problems.
Peristrokia = Peristrokia was an idea to reform the economic system, and also the political system. This is how Mikhail Gorbachev paved the way to the end of communism for the Soviet Union.

The Collapse of Communism

2009-05-12T06:54:00.000-07:00

The USSR and the U.S. were two nation who lead the world's superpowers during the Cold War. As the WWII ended, both the countries competed against each others. Even though they were racing each others with powers and armed with atomic weapons they did not get in to any actual fighting. The mere cost of keeping up with each other was high for both countries. So USSR could not keep on the track beacuse of financial problems.
This effected the whole country and their economy soon collapsed at the high price for competing with the U.S. Since their main source of money camed from Soviet Russia, all the countries they supported collapsed to. East and West Germans were startled wehn they were not allowed to croos the border. Many of them gathered in large groups, facing tear gas and bullets to try and cross the border, but to no aival.

Nelson Mandela and Apartheid

2009-05-05T07:05:00.000-07:00

Apartheid is a word created by the South African Bureau for Racial Affairs (SABRA). They argued about the policy of "separate development" of the races.
Nelson is such a hero beacause, he Fought for Unity and Liberation. He hold the future of Africa. Growing under the Apartheid system was tough and harsh. But, Nelson was a fighter. He became a lifelong warrior in the battle to free South Africa. He spent 27 years in the prison and became the symbolic body and blood of the anti-apartheid campaign.He was a man of peace, but he headed a guerrilla group that waged a campaign of violence.
During the 1950s Mandela played a key role in the ANC's non-violent campaign to undermine apartheid, South Africa's system of racial segregation, through strikes, civil disobedience, and demonstrations. After he was released by the white government, Mandela negotiated with the white government to end apartheid. Four years later he was elected president and served for five years.

African Independence

2009-05-05T07:03:00.000-07:00

African Independence was a period when African colonies gained its independence from the European countries. During the mid 1950's the continent of Africa was being ruled by European countries, because the Europeans wanted the natural resources that were stored in Africa. Since Europe was weakened after WWII, it was easy for the Africans to gain Independence. After 20 years Africa was a whole different continent, because the colonies gained independence from the Europeans and went on to become independence countries. Controlling different colonies were to much to afford so basically, Europeans were planning to set Africa free.
All the educated people worked together and created a middle class and following the independence of many other nations. Africa had many leaders because there were so many provinces. These leaders were inspired by African-American leaders.They had Leopold Senghor, who leaded Sengal and later became president. Kwame Nkrumah became Ghana's first prime minister. Marcus Garvey was Jamaican born, but his goal was to lead Europeans out of Africa and have Africa ruled by Africans. Jomo Kenyatta led Kenya through a harsh independence. And many others. During the two major World Wars, the European countries weren't economically stabled enough to run a country hundreds of miles away.

"The Right Stuff"

2009-04-08T07:14:00.000-07:00

How were the US and the USSR competing in the film "The Right Stuff"?
Both the countries were competing each others in different activities. At first, they showed how America was trying to break sound barrier. They kept this as a secret because they did not wanted Russia to know what was going on. Later when America found out that Russia launched the first rocket, America was mad.

Explain who was winning the competition.
The Russian were winning the competition because, there were 3 different activities. Russia was the first one to complete 2 activities than the American. They launched the first satellite and the rocket. America was behind only three weeks.

What scenes from the film will help you remember this Cold War event.
The part when people were selected for the astronaut mission, i was shocked and horrified. It took more than the will you had in your self. The experiment that was taken on the people were painful. You had to be strong, healthy and a college degree student. 7 people were able to complete this examination.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

2009-04-06T07:14:00.000-07:00

What were NATO and the Warsaw Pact?
NATO is an organization that includes countries in Europe and North America.
The Warsaw Pact was formed as communist military alliance to maintain power over Eastern Europe.

Who formed these alliances and why?
The major reason for the formation of NATO was that the countries involved wanted a mutual defense alliance so that if one of them were attacked all of the other countries in NATO would come to their aide.
Warsaw Pact was created Russia and later joined by Bulgaria, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Republice of Hungary, Republic of Poland, Republic of Romania, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Members of the Warsaw Pact pledged to defend each other if one or more of the members were attacked.

Film Lesson: Schindler's List

2009-03-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

Schindler managed to save about 1100 Jews from being gassed at the Auschwitz concentration camp. He was a glorious and greedy German businessman who saved his workers from his factories. He was a Nazi but he was a good Nazi at the same time. His workers worked for free so he wanted to pay back to them.
Auschwitiz was the most powerful scene for a viewer as me. That place was where all the people were killed. Families were separated by sex. Males were on the right side and females were on the right side. The strong and healthy people survived. The weak were killed and thrown away. Since little kids were not able to work as much as the elder, they were killed too.
They did not had enough food and clothing. When there was shortage of food, the prisoners were left hungry.
The image of the little girl with the red coat with always stay with me. She was standing out so much with that little coat. She tried to runaway but she was caught and killed. She was so young to die. I don't think it's fair at all.

Film Lesson: Night and Fog

2009-03-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

When i saw the movie "Night and Fog", i was shocked and terrified. The way all the Jewish people were treated was out of my imagination. How can you be so cold hearted like that?
Yes, i found the film as powerful as you did.
The way they punished the people and killed them without thinking about it was the same in the both movies. The Nazi's acted like they had so soul and heart. They were basically out of their mind when they killed all those people. I hope their dead souls hunts all the killer.
The documentary film illustrates the Holocaust more effectively. The thing in the movie are real and its not a made up thing.
All those dead bodies of the people mad be feel so numb. The movie was the documentary film about the Nazi concentration camps.They showed real place, people, harsh action, bodies. The end of the film, they show a scenes where mass of dead bodies were being bulldozed into the grave.

The Treaty of Versailles (ended WW I)

2009-02-24T06:52:00.000-08:00

The Treaty of Versailles affected Germany at the end of WWI, as Germany was blamed for everything. Even though other countries were involved in the war, the treaty made Germany pay for all the destruction. 10% of the Germans property on the other side were taken over.
Some of the rules of the treaty were as follow:

German army – no conscription 100,000 man limit
Saar coal mining area controlled by France
Germany must pay reparations (money and/or goods) to the Allies
The league of Nations would be formed from Wilson’s 14 points
Allies occupy the west bank of the Rhine to French border for 15 years (would become a demilitarized zone)

I totally don't think it is fair. They just wanted some one to blame all on. There were other country that should have been part of the blame.
Some historians say that the Treaty of Versailles led to the rise of Fascism and Adolph Hitler
because when the country was going down after the treaty, they wanted some one to bring back the nation. Hitler was a great leader, and they all believed that he would help the nation to step up. But, they did not knew that he was a crazy man who would kill 6 million Jewish. Historians say this because Hitler had all the power to do what ever he wanted to. He basically wanted to take over the world. In a way, he almost achieved it.

Mustafa Kemal

2009-02-11T07:08:00.000-08:00

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is known as "The Father of Turkey". He was the president of Turkey for 15 years. Before that, he was a commander leader and because of his victories and his cultural and socio-political reforms, Turkey formed as a new nation. He believed that all the people were supposed to dress and live like the Europeans. He also established law which state proper clothing like shirt, pant, tie, hat etc. instead of that dress kind of cloth.
There was legal systems where everyone was was equal in front of the law. He improved the agricultural expansion, industrial growth, and technological advancement. His work was very impressive and helped the nation in many different ways.
Secular means to have reference to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual or scared.

Gandhi

2009-02-10T07:05:00.001-08:00

Mahatma Gandhi

2009-02-10T06:52:00.000-08:00

Gandhi's real name was Mohandas K. Gandhi. He was called Mahatma (great soul). He was a lawyer who fought against the racial problems towards the Indians. When Gandhi was in South Africa, he purchased a 1st class ticket. But, he was told to move to the third class coach because he was Indian. Gandhi refused and he was kicked out at the next station. The massacre at Amritsar was the act which brought the independence soul from Gandhi. He told his follower not to use violence but civil disobedience. He told the Indians to stop buying goods from the British which would weaken the British government.
Gandhi weaved his own cloth and so did his followers. He took a step to stop the Salt Acts. During that time, Indians could only buy salt from the British. They also had to pay sales tax on the salt they brought. So, Gandhi and his followers marched on the sea cost. They were going to make their own salt. When his followers used any violence act, he would go for fasting until they stop it. He was a great leader. Gandhi wanted Muslims and Hindus to live in the same country, India. He was assassinated by an Indian who did not support the idea about Muslims and Hindus living together.
Indians Independence was not all about Gandhi. Since British was involved in the WWII, they lost many troops and had a huge financial problems. British could not take care about India. So anyway in the future, India was going to get their independence.

Cause of World War I

2009-01-07T06:35:00.000-08:00

The primary cause of World War I was the anger the leaders had towards other countries that was supported by the nationalism of the European nations. The three major cause are as follow;
1.Nationalism was one of the major reason which lead to the war. The 4 countries from Europe, which are France, Germany, Austria and Russia were nationalistic about their own country. This brought hatred against each others. The movie we watched, showed how nationalistic they were. The first introduction part was very strong. There were kids from each country, residing poem about their nation.
2. Militarism was other reason which caused the war. Each country were improving in their military system. They demanded more power for their country. Germany was the strongest country with the military. Each country took side of each others. British and France worked together while Germany and Austria worked with each others.
3. The assassination of Sarajevo was the breaking point of Europe. Due to the assassination, Germany promised total help and support to Austria-Hungary who was forced to declare war on Serbia.

The Opium War

2008-12-10T06:45:00.000-08:00

The First Opium War or the First Anglo-Chinese War was fought between the British East Indian Company and the Qing Dynasty in China from 1839 to 1842 with the aim of forcing China to import British opium. Britain won the war and as a result gained control over Hong Kong.
Opium was used as medicine to cure diseases such as dysentery, cholera, as well as diarrhea. British wanted to trade with China for tea, but China did not wanted any help from them. So, in order to get the tea, British started to sell Opium to the Chinese people. They got addicted to Opium and the government was not happen with this situation. Almost all the population used the Opium. They traded large amount of sources, specially silver which weakened the economically badly.
Lin Tse-Hsua, an imperial commissioner, was the charge of organization for anti-opium. He wrote a letter to Queen Victoria of England, informing about the Opium. But,this did not work the way they wanted to. In 1840, the first attempt of Opium War started. This was the first drug war. China was not prepared for this war, since they were not advanced in technology like the British. The Treaty of Nanjing marked the beginning of foreign commercial and residential privileges in China. This helped the China to catch up the world in technology.

Mountains of the Moon

2008-12-03T06:37:00.000-08:00

As the Europeans explored Africa, they had to faced following hardship;

The distance they had to cover to find out the location of the place where the Nile river started.
They did not have enough people and weapons.
They were attacked by the African Tribes.

The source of Nile River was named after a British Queen because, when the Europeans discoverd the source, they decided to name the source as "VICTORIA" as their queen was Victoria. Even though there are people living in that area, the source is still called Victoria.
As shown in the movie, Mountains Of The Moon, the Europeans were advanced in weapons while the Africans only had hand made tools. The Africans only had arrows while the Europeans had guns a cannons.
Taking over meant a lot to the Europeans because they could used the people as the slave and also get the goods that are located in Africa. Europeans very far better advanced than the Africans in many different ways.

Meiji Restoration

2008-11-26T06:39:00.000-08:00

Matthew Perry were bulling Japan by the display of military might.When Perry arrived Japan with the ship and dropped anchor 26 miles off the coast, the Japanese were amazed by their technology and how the movement of ships with no sails.
Japan was falling back while other country like Europe were very advanced in technology. When the Meiji restoration occured, there was a vast change. Japanese started to follow the western countries. The books were translated to English and the education level got higher. They started creating new things in the factories. Japan transferred from undeveloped country to a very advanced industrialization country.
Japan is an archipelago, that means Japan is a chain or cluster of islands that is formed tectonically.

Karl Marx and Communism

2008-11-06T06:36:00.000-08:00

Karl Marx idea of communism was that communism was created after the end of process of evolution. this evolution began with feudalism and passing through capitalism and socialism. he wanted to make a group all the socialist leaders living in different parts of Europe so they could all reunite.
Communism a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.
Marx want Communism to take over the world because he wanted to help the poor people from the cruelty of the rich people. The Industrial Revolution was a heavy burden on the poor people. The rich people were getting richer and poor people were getting poorer. He wanted to share the money equally over all the people.
Marx saw bourgeoisie as the "bad guys" and he saw proletariat as the "good guys", because he did not like the idea of Industrial Revolution. He wanted to bring rights for the poor people. The rich people were taking over the country. They owned land and factories.The poor people had to work so hard for the money in order to survive. They could send their children to school because they were send to the factory to work. The result ended up as Child Labor.

Karl Marx and The Industrial Revolution

2008-11-05T06:42:00.000-08:00

Marx had bad attitude towards the Industrial Revolution. He thought that since there are larger number on workers than the landlords. he quoted "workers of the world to unit." He formed an idea called Communism. He said that all the workers should be paid the same amount of wage. He wanted workers to control the government. He published a book, where there were quotes. People seemed to like his idea and they started to follow his path.
He did not liked it at all. He was against the Industrial Revolution. He did not like how the poor people were getting poor and the richer were getting richer. He also went against how the child were treated at the factories. He felt bad for all the people and children who were suffering from the Industrial Revolution.
He wanted to create something that would help the poor people have a better life and where the financial was distributed equally among all the people. He did not believed that all the people worked the same amount of work. People who work hard were poor and could support their family. But, people who just sat around telling others what to do, had many money and power on the people. Rich people owned houses and factories, having a luxuries life, but the poor people they barely have enough money to survive.

Nationalism and the Creation of Italy

2008-10-16T06:40:00.000-07:00

Nationalism is the belief that one's greatest loyalty should not be to a kind or an empire but to a nation of people who share a common culture and history. An example of how you are Nationalism, is the like since i am from Nepal, and i live in USA. I still go to nepali party, charity show, games and other activities. Even though i am an American citizens, i still follow my cultures and belief. I go worship my gods and visit the monastries.

You show that you are a Nationlastic by following the steps of the leader who sacrificed their life for the country. We should pay tax and help the government build a strong country. We should follow the law and the rule that the government have created. If possible we should join the army,navy and marines to protect the country and the people in it.

Nationalism helped build the Italy. Italy was distributed into small pieces. Cavour wanted to grow more Sardinia's power, he did not wanted to unit the Italy. Red shirts was one of the famous army tribes. The city of Rome was under control of Italy, after the victory. It took a long time for the Italy to unit. Bismarck was one of the most ambitious king. This people went all the way to death to unit the country.

Italy was like a broken beads of a necklace. After it was united together and formed a huge country. It was a city-states. Giuseppe Mazzini was a ruler who supported nation-states. They won by working together.

Simon Bolivar

2008-10-10T06:38:00.000-07:00

Bolivar captured Carcas on august 6 and two days later proclaimed the second Venezuelan republic. The Battle of Boyaca was one of his great victory. He was elected as the president of Gran Colombia. Antonio José de Sucre victory made him very proud and inspired. His armies, started conquering the other country. Bolivar and Sucre, they had a great fight against the Spanish Army.
Simon Bolivar is famous because he was a great leader. They wrote many great books. He also conquered many countries. He tried his best to combine all the country together and make it into one huge country (Gran Colombia).
There is a country named after him in South America in behalf on his honor. He helped Sucre defeat the Spanish army, and he was fighting for the South America unity.
He hated Napoleon since he betrayed the country. This inspired him to fight for the unity and his quest for revolution.

Robespierre and The Reign of Terror

2008-09-23T07:12:00.000-07:00

The Reign of terror was a violence event that took place fifteen months after the French Revolution. 16000 to 40000 people were killed during the reign of terror. Many famous and highly know people were executed under the blade. They were killed, (their head being chopped under the blade) in front of the people, to show that people who don't support them, they will have to face the same death. French nobles and clergy were not approving this new terror work, as they now had to work and did not received any goods from the peasants.

Maximilien Robespierre tried to erase everything that was related to the old monarchy. Churches were closed as it was one of the major resident which was like a load over the peasant shoulder. He was like a dictator ruler. He was the person who created The Reign of Terror. Government people were scared and tired of his idea of cutting off others head. They did not felt safe. They organized a conspiracy towards him and he was executed the same way, his head was cut off. Then the Reign of Terror was over.

The Reign of Terror was caused because the democracy was not granted to the people.They had to fight for it, and the Reign of Terror was one of the way to gain it. It took lots of death body and blood and have freedom. This execution was carried as they kept on cutting people heads. All the people were scared and was not strong enough to go against him. But, at last they all stand together and executed him!

The French Revolution

2008-09-22T06:37:00.000-07:00

1. Many people were critical of
a) The nobility because they had all the control authority over peasants. They did not have to do any military based work. They did not had to pay many of the tax. They had a very luxurious life.
b) The king because they ruled the kingdom and everything in it. They took control the whole France.
c) The clergy because they had their own estate, where they had their own rule and regulation.

2. A french peasant have grumbled about maintaining the balance between the clergy and feudal lords. The peasants had to pay to both of them. They had so much to do to survive. They had a very little which was not sufficient for their own family and they had to pay double the amount to the clergy and feudal lords. They had so much to worry about. Day and night they had to work so they could earn enough to pay both of the estate. Even though the peasant was the largest population in the whole 3 estate, they were the one who had to pay the most.

3. French was divided into 3 groups. The first one is the clergy, the church people, the second one was nobility and the third one was the peasant. The two upper class had a very nice and rich life. They did not even had to pay any taxes. While the peasant had to pay most of the taxes. The cartoon was trying to say that, peasant have to go through many hard and cruel life, while the others enjoys from their taxes. They want to have a nice life for their own. They want to end this law.

4. The author of source B describe the lives of French peasants, by exploring what the peasant had to go through. They had to pay more than they earn from their daily life. They had a very little amount of sources to survive, and they had to pay the king from their earning. It was the triple amount from what they earn. This taxes and feudal dues where giving them a very hard time. They had to work hard every time, so that they don't have to own anything to the king or the tax collector.

5. Yes, all the sources explain why poor people in France resented rich. The rich people were enjoying their life through the income of peasants. They really did not had to do any hard work. They got their food and money from the peasants. The peasants could complain about it as they did not hold any powers towards the rich one. They even could not tell the king about it as he also got good and money from the peasants. They had to take care of the clergy, king and the nobles. There were to many load over their shoulder to worry about.

6. The peasants would be most influenced by his words. As they brought out the word "DEMOCRACY", the peasants wanted to choose their own government. No one want to get ruled by some one else. They want to have their own rights and have a good life. The governments should get their power from the people. If the new government is not doing a good job than they people could have some one else take over his or her position. The people makes the law and the regulations of the country.

7. I think this was banned because the peasant was inspired through his work and wanted to form a democracy country. They had enough of the nobles, clergy and the king. They did not wanted to get ruled by them. The peasants had to wake up every morning and work had. They worried so much because they had a short time to give all the amount to the king and the taxes collector. They knew they would have enough of everything they own. They must have fight for their rights, which made the 2 other estate mad. The 2 other state must have banned is because they want to rule the peasant and live from their earning. They did not wanted to work or worry about the money and food which they got free from the peasants.

John Locke and "The Enlightment"

2008-09-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

The "RIGHTS" that John is talking about are Life,Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness. It is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government. If the people feel like the president or the king are not doing the right job than they could take away their position and give it to someone who could take good care of the country. According to The Declaration Of Indepence, the government comes from the people within the community! When the people likes the person who is running the whole system, than they support him or her and gives them the power to do what they think is good.

Copernicus and the Trial of Galileo

2008-09-12T06:38:00.000-07:00

Helicentrism is the theory where the sun is the center of the Solar System. Theosophists mention that Earth is the one which revolves around the Sun. This information can be found in Vedic Sanskrit which is written in ancient India. Yajnavalkya said that Sun is much more bigger than the earth. The modern science disagree with the old Helicentrism as they discovered that the sun was not the center of the earth.

Geocentric is the theory where the earth is the center of the universe. The Greek philosopher believed that the sun, moon stars and other planets revolved around the earth. they believed in this theory as they saw the stars moving around the earth. Also the earth is a very solid and stable so it does not move.

Theory came that first came out of the scientific revolution was Geocentric Theory.The Catholic Church was putting him in the trial because he said the earth was not the central while the church believed that the earth was the center of the universe.

Galileo Galilei was accused for putting words in book that the earth was not the center of the earth. In 1610, he discovered the telescope which totally help him to support Copernican theory. He brought his idea to the public but he did had hard time at the beginning. People did not believed in his research but he kept on trying and felt that it was worth the try. He even published book which mention about the thing he discovered. At first they did not support him but later his book was published and sold very fast. But later his book publishing was stopped because they thought it might cause some serious damage. Later he was complained by the pope for going against their theory.

Scientific Revolution: The Scientific Method

2008-09-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

People got their information from the Bible or ancient Greek and Romans to find out about the science. The Greek and Christianity believed that earth was the located at the center of the universe and the other planets revolved around it. Aristotle theory was that heavy object reached the land than the lighter object. His theory was believed by others for 1500 years. But,he discovered that all the object of different weight fall at the same speed and time. He proved Aristotle theory wrong and created a new theory.

One of the known scientist Isaac Newton proved Aristotle again wrong on his theory, when he said that one physical law governed the earth while the other one governed the universe. Newton said that there was a universal law of gr aviation which was distributed equally to earth and the universe.

People never had the right way to determine how to investigate the world better. there was a argument between Aristotle and the Greek philosopher that man and women had the same number of teeth without checking it out. we need a proof to prove weather something is wrong or right. we need to have a good observation.

The scientific method is done the following

consistent
observation
hypothesis
predictions
test
not consistent: modify hypothesis.

Evolution V.S Creation

2008-09-05T06:46:00.000-07:00

Evolution
Darwin's theory of evolution explains that, all the living beings are created from the same ancestors. Everything is related to each others. One subject passes on their features to their offspring. Natural selection is one of the major reason for all this creation of living things. It helps protect the problems which are created on genetic mutation. His theory takes time but at last, the result would prove all his techniques and experiment.

Creation
They believe that the god created everything on this earth. It's a religious belief. The U.S government once restricted the public school to teach evolution. This idea are written in the Book of Genesis and Quran. Many known, popular, rich, high standard people argued that evolution is one of the basic reason how we are created. The history of creationism is all from the history of religion.

I believe in evolution because they have many reasons as compared to creation. They explains us more specific and shows us many details and data based on their subject. It also gives us proof through experiment and other laboratory draft. No one has ever seen god or could prove that there was a god. We just believe that once there was a god. But now there are technology which shows us that evolution is the creator of this earth and everything in it!

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2008-09-04T07:04:00.001-07:00

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