Problems of today’s World

NATO

After the WW II States of Western Europe and North America watched the expensive policy of the USSR. They found out that the Russian system, especially the dictatorship of the Communist Party, could become dangerous for independent democratic states.
This threat stengthened with the events of years 1947-1949 (the putch in Czechoslovakia in February 1948, blockade of Berlin in April 1948). In March 1948 Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK signed the TREATY OF BRUSSELS. By this act they decided to build up a system of collective security defence. The negotiation about establishing the NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANISATION was started with the USA and Canada. The Five Brussels‘ states also invited Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Norway and Portugal to participate in these talks. On April 4, 1949 the TREATY OF WASHINGTON was signed and so the states founded the collective security system. In 1952 Greece and Turkey entered NATO. The Federal Republic of Germany joined in 1955, Spain in 1982. In July 1997 three Middle European states were appealed to enter. They were the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland and they entered in 1999.
Since the foundation the main interest of NATO has been to ensure the security of the member states. In the Washington Treaty it is said that a military attack against one of the member states is against all of them. Nowadays NATO cooperates with many East and Middle European countries in the field of safety. NATO also participates in solving the situation in the Near East.

THE YUGOSLAVIAN CONFLICT

The conflict in former Yugoslavia began when Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence, which president Slobodan Milosevic didn’t like for two reasons. First, he insisted on keeping the state not divided. Second, he found their acting unfair as he lost the coast into which Yugoslavia had invested a lot of money. Later it was turned into a religious conflict. He decided to solve the problem with help of his army. Thousands people died or were suffering. Many villages were murdered off and women raped. The conflict was calmed down by the troops of UN and USA. Milosevic escaped but was found and imprisoned. He is blamed for genocide, crimes against humanity, beginning a war conflict, military dictatorship and slaughtering.

ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

There were only 4 million Jews in Palestine in 1937. During the WW II some more moved in despite the protests of Arabic inhabitants. UN originally planned to form two states – Palestinian and Jewish but the jewish declared their state called Israel in 1948 and refugee camps were built in the neighbourhood countries for the Palestinians. Despite the wars (1948, 1956, 1967, 1976) and terrorist acts, Israel managed to keep its position thanks to its strong army and great loans from abroad. These days there is another serious conflict with a great violence on both sides.

THE CONFLICT OF THE PERSIAN GULF

This conflict started on July 17, 1990 when Saddam Hussein (the president of Iraq) blamed small country Kuwait for pumping a higher quantity of oil then it was said in the traety signed by these two countries. So Iraq invaded Kuwait and occupied it. The UN Council called a conference and wrote a resolution no. 660 about driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After this treaty a restless period of negotiations with Iraq started. But this country refused the possibility of peaceful discussion and thretened to use wapons of mass destruction. The war started. It was a very dangerous operation and it ended on February 28th 1991, when secret fortresses with bombs and weapons in Iraq were destroyed by American interceptors.

DISEASES

HIV/AIDS

Unprotected sexual intercourse is always a risk that should never be underestimated. Safer sex means either sexual intercourse with a condom or lower risk sexual activities…
In the Czech Republic, the number of reported cases of HIV infections increases every year. HIV leads to AIDS. Most cases are due to unprotected sexual intercourse.
In recent years, the number of other sexually transmitted diseases including serious forms, has also been sharply rising, particularly among commercial sex workers and their clients on the border of CZ.

Infections that may be transmitted during sexual intercourse:

- gonorrhoea (kapavka)
- syphilis
- HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) infection
- AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrom)
- Viral hepatitis (types B and C)
- Other sexually transmitted infections caused by viruses, bacteria and parasites

Since all of the diseases occur in the CZ one can readily bring them home. If anyone has a suspicion that he or she may have contracted a sexually transmitted disease, he or she should contact a physican or venerologist and ask for the examination including an HIV antibody test. He should do so without a delay to start effective treatment as soon as possible and avoid spread of the disease.

CANCER

Cancer is what happens when the normal cells making up a part of a person’s body start to grow faster than usual, take an odd shape, and stop their part of the body from doing its work.
If the cancer lump is found early enough, it can sometimes be removed by surgical operation or killed by treatment with X-rays or gamma rays. But if this isn’t done soon, stray cells break off from the cancerous part and float off in the blood to start trouble elsewhere.
Cancer can start in almost every part of the body-the lungs, the kidneys, the stomach, the bones, the blood or even skin. No one really knowk why it starts but ideas are becoming clearer about what makes people likely to get cancer, and doctors are keen to stop people doing things – like smoking cigarettes – which may encourage the disease.

ENVIRONMENT

There are many problems in the world. Science is trying to solve them and all of us should contribute to solution. One of the biggest problems is that of environment. The steep development of industry is a great danger for life on the Earth. There are two pressing problems with the atmosphere of our planet caused by emitting polluting materials into the air.
The first one is the impairment of the ozone layer. Ozone absorbs the ultraviolet rays from the Sun which is dangerous for all beings on the Earth. Ozone is decomposed by freons above all. It is neccessary to stop using this gas and replace it by another one.
The second one is the green-house effect which is caused by a lot of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air. Gradual warming of the Earth’s atmosphere can bring melting of the polar icecaps and the sea level going up.

Another problem connected with the environment is the problem of energy. We need a lot of energy to keep the development of industry. There have been invented 3 main types of power stations so far:

1. Thermal power stations pollute the air, release smog.
2. Water power stations destroy the landscape and in our country there are few suitable riers for them.
3. Nuclear power stations are rather expesive but they don’t pollute the air. Many people think that they are not safe but the biggest problem is nuclear waste.

We should use new sources of energy, for example solar energy and geothermal energy.

The development of industry requires raw materials, too. This deposits of raw materials on the Earth will be exhausted and that’s why we must replace some of them with plastics. But plastics bring another problem because they are indestructable and scientists have to find a technology enabling their utilization. Recyclion is one of the ways how to economize the raw materials.

There are a lot of ways of being friendly to the environment. We can use means of transport which are less dangerous for the environment (bicycle, train, unleaded petrol, walk). We can sort our waste to enable its recyclation. We can save energy. We can choose washing-up liquids and washing powders that doesn’t harm the environment, we should stop using chemical fertilizers.

Many people are also worried about local environmental problems such as noise, drinking water and litter. The best thing to do about litter is not to drop it in the first place.

There are many environmental movements working for protection of nature. For example Greenpeace, Children of the Earth, Rainbow, etc…

RAINFORESTS

Befor 1900, rainforests covered 14% of world’s surface. Today they cover 7%. The reason for it is simple. They have been cut down to provide land, paper, wood, medicines, minerals, fuel etc. But it’s not only trees that are disappearing. Every rainforest also contain millions of animals, insects and flowers. These are destroyed, too. If man continues to cut down rainforests, more than one million species will become extinct by the year 2030. Governments should protect certain areas and plant new forests.

ACID RAIN

One of Europe and North America’s most serious problems is acid rain. Factories send gases and chemicals into the air, where they mix and are carried for hundreds of miles by the wind. Finally they fall back to earth when it rains, which kills fish and trees. It slowly destrys bridges and buildings, too. Industrial countries should control their levels of pollution.

WILDLIFE

Animals are part of the environment, too. Millions of them are killed or treated cruelly by man every year. Animals are used for scientific research, are killed for sport or for their fur or skin. They are in danger because the environment is in danger, and they are kept in cruel conditions on farms. Groups like Greenpeace have already helped to stop furhounting. Like many other organisations, they believe in animal rights. Animals shouldn’t suffer.