some treats for anyone who still reads my site

David Yin Notes on SS

Structure of UN
- Noble experiment in human cooperation (community among nations divided by diverse interestes/attributes)
- Preserve peace and eliminate war
- Remove causes of conflict by encouraging economic, social educational, scientific, cultural progress throughout the world, esp DC
- Safeguard the rights of individuals, ppl, nations
- Decisions do not require unanimous vote
- Security Countil – deal with crisis (any permanent member can veto decision and prevent action from being taken)
- “uniting for peace” resolution permits Security Council veto to be bypassed by General Assembly vote

Economic and Social Council (ECOCOC)
- Projects concerned with health, education, social, economic matters
- Population problems, drug problems, human rights, status of women
- 90% of UN annual expenditure

World Health Organisation(WHO)
- One of most successful agency
- Aims to keep world in “high level of health”
- Improvement of nutrional standards
- Battles against diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy etc (eliminated small pox in 1980s)
- Provides $$ to train doctors, nurses, health workers in DC

UN Educational, Social, Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
- Encourage spread of literacy
- Foster international cooperation bet scientists, artists of all fields(best way to avoid war is educating the mind in pursuit of peace)
- Setting up schools and teacher-training colleges in DC
- Preserve cultural treasures
- Improve freedom of expression, education, access to science
- However, accused of being inefficient, wasteful, with unacceptable political aims (USA withdrew in 85, Britain+S’pore in 86)

International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- Foster cooperation bet nations to encourage growth of trade/ develop economic potential
- Short-term loans to countries in financial difficulties
- USA, main contributor, attach conditions to loans

Lack of Permanent Army
- Difficult to prevail upon powerful nations to accept its decisions if they choose self-interest
- Rely on member nations to provide troops to enforce decisions
- Depends greatly on leadership of nations that comprise its members

Increased Membership
- Members from Third world a clear majority
- Increasingly difficult for Western/Communist nations to get their resolutions passed through the General Assembly
- Arguments arise

Wastage of Resources
- Some agencies seem to duplicate each other – FAO n WHO overlap too much
- Corruption. Financial mismanagement. Overcharged millions by contractors in oil-for-food programs. Should be responsible for funds entrusted by members
- Damages credibility of UN
- Responsible for shortage of funds
Case study: Oil for food program
- Overpayment by millions. Defeats purpose of program. US$3m to Lloyd Register Inspection Ltd. Inflated renewal of contract

Shortage of Funds
- Entirely dependent on contributions based on general wealth n paying ability
- Many members refused to pay from time to time
- 86, 89 countries owed $$, USA withheld 100m
- 87, main financial contributors granted more control over spending
- USA(30), EU(35), Jpn(11) ¾ expenses.
- Many wealthy states not contributing enough, like Middle East/Persian nations
- Interfering in Belgian Congo Civil War almost bankrupted UN (60-64)
- Require US$4.7B in 2005

Problems, esp involving large nations
- Unable to solve international relations problems, esp Cold war, conflicts bet Arabs/Jews in Middle East
- Indecision and lack of firmness + Veto by permanent members causes long delays before decisive action can be taken
- INTERESTS OF LARGE NATIONs
- Powerless to prevent war or punish warmongers. Teetering on brink of irrelevance
- Interest of western nations in Kuwait’s oil supplies – gave help to chase Saddam Hussain from Kuwait. Cf: East Timor received no/little help
- Ineffective like CON when interests of large nations threatened, and it decide to ignore/defy UN
Case study: eggs for sex scandal
- Corruption. Peacekeepers in Congo traded eggs, milk , cash for sex with women they were sent to protect. Neglect responsibilities as protectors
- Desperate for $$/food. Take advantage of vulnerable, victims of civil war. Disgraceful
- 1000 Congolese die a day cos of hunger and lack of health care. Neglect pressing problems
- Failed to enforce discipline among soldiers. Sexual exploitation. Corruption. Lousy discipline
- Likely to go unpunished. (lack of evidence) not accountable for actions. Home country responsible for them (problems of lack of permanent army)

Case study: Hungarian Rising (56) Czechoslovak Crisis (68)
- Exert independence from Russian control, send troops crush revolt. Russians refused to bow to international pressure or cooperate/ignore. Nothing UN could do

Case study: US-invasion of Iraq
- US (bush) berated UN for not living up to responsibilities by disarming Iraq’s WMD. Acting in place of UN
- Though no support of most members on SC, acting against expressed wishes of majority of international community, US invade Iraq
- Kofi Annan accused US-led invasion as “illegal”. No SC resolution passed to authorize invasion
- UN powerless to stop. As proven in many instances, powerless when acting against wishes of large nation/ interest at stake. Big nations can ditch diplomacy at will
- In failing to stop invasion, compromise safety of Iraqi commoners, fails to help resist unwelcome invasion
- Colin Powell in presenting case to SC that Saddam possess WMD, instructs UN. As if UN listens to what US believes in. Whatever US deems dangerous, UN has to comply and act according to her wishes
- Cannot help rebuild battered Iraq. First, US does not allow, and it has authority. Second, cannot take responsibility for a war it did not support. Yes by not intervening, does not fulfil promise to safeguard safety of Iraqis
- Uncertainty. Helpless in protecting invaded nation. Nobody is granted protection. Since US domination, countries will rather ally USA for protection since UN cannot offer that.
- Exercising of authority threatened by USA. Relinquish role to US as global protector
- TELL USA no nation is bigger than UN(which represent the world). If not it’s useless
- Others nation should not support coalition of willing. Destiny should lie in UN’s power, not a single nation

Benefits/ Usefulness
- World assembly where represensatives from all over 180nations can gather to discuss important issues. Even smallest nations can make themselves heard in a world forum
- Successful in international crisis(esp which did not directly involve interests of large nations) by bringing some wars to end more quickly by arranging ceasefires and negotiations, preventing further conflict. Peacekeeping forces and refugee agencies during war reduces bloodshed/suffering, stabilize regional disputes
- Success in non-political works, like care of refugees, protection of human rights, economic planning, health/pop problems
- Poor are better off
- * Stimulate international cooperation on economic, social, technical matters
Case study: Suez Crisis (56)
- Britain/France/Isarael agrees to withdraw from Egypt after GA condemns invasion and calls for withdrawal. Negotiated a reasonable settlement

Case study: Jews/Arabs Kashmir, Cyprus, West New Guinea
- Pivitol role in negotiations, arranging ceasefires in disputes
- However, often no permanent solution

Case study: Korean War
- Only occasion decisive action in crisis directly involving interest of superpower (Russian delegates absent, unable to veto resolution to send troops)
- UFP
- * US govt already decided to intervene with force before Security Council decision taken – only legitimized it, making it UN operation

Conclusions
- Numerous progressive changes. (grandest achievement being its role in decolonization)
- Humaitarian mission alleviate suffering throughout the world
- Does a good job as a peacekeeper/international mediator. Peace and security
- Less specular aims and impressive results safeguarding human rights and encouraging economic, social, educational, cultural progress, trade and development, environmental protection
- Often unheroic, largely uncelebrated/unknown, but demands respect
- At the same time, sizable gap between aspiration and accomplishment
- Irrational to believe it’s a paragon of success

oh ya blog abt another 2 things

first, i wasn't selected for science club. tbh the test was really screwed. I thnk i said juz after the test also , so it wasn't sour grapes. they were just testing you on textbook stuff, basically stuff that is to be mugged. I mean u look at the top scorer for the test, nai chien and liqian. I had thought it wld be somehting that really test your science aptitude/something like iq. In the end, it was just sheer humiliation. Neither did sue ben get in. He similar position to me. kelvin kwok from my class got in. I mean he even mugged organic chem, he most likely mugged everything.

And i must say that one of the science teacher that day was REALLY bitchy during the test. I mean wtf is her problem. I had wnted to juz throw the paper at her. bitch. Luckily i wasn't her student last year. But i just kept quiet. If she had wanted to disqualify me thne, so be it. But i kinda suspect that she disqualifed me anywae...

And i wwent for this cool sicence talk last fri at science centre. the first was on bioinformatics. to me, it was so bland and uninteresting and basic that i thnk it really sucks. and i don't often criticise excessively. So during the break i went to look at the coolio exhibits there. Long time never go sci center. And there was this reaction game.

Now i must say ACS people are really rockers. I was playing the game. And you are supposed to press the flashing buttons. Yar. First time playing, i got 14, which ws quite lousy. Then these bunch of acs dudes came and say "loser". Fine. So watched them play lor. 3 decided to play together and pwn the machine. Well, according to them, the machine is really stupid cos they got 15. But they seriously rocks. It's like they are always dong things that jack themselves, and still so smug and full of themselves. maybe it's just the culture... but ri people are crap, so it pretty evens out. HCi rocks!!

i think yvonne from css rocks. yinwei rocks too. teresa rocks too. and renfred looks like an idol. but yvonne is still the best!

happie valentine's day vitalism. continue to keep that love

haha, like dead blog already, bt i shall update juz in case anyone still cares... boo

I feel quite sad for someone i just happened to know. She's this chinese schlars. She got posted to Ah (if a certain gerald goes there, it's *ahem*) and she always does very well, inlcuding her prelims. After being posted to her meng mei yi qiu RJC, she screwed up her 'o' and therefore, she can only enter vjc now. reality is harsh, people.

Fri, my mum's shanghaiese friend arrived here from australia for some seminar. So she brought her around. Like sentosa, which is really quite pathetic. And just opned a new box of chocolates at home.... looks damn class but i dun quite like the taste. lol

Heard our last batch screwed up for o hmt. Expected la. i mean, RP just makes us retarded personals. Seriously. People just become slacker, like me, and lose a lot of motivation. And if you are ensured direct entry into rjc, who will study?? I mean compared to last time, when people take 11 subjects, they can also get A1 for HMT. Now, 1 subject also fail. But the new HMt syllabus is shit, i agree too. Unless you are damn zai, if not gg.

Did i say that i screwed up my Chem practical, and i am seriously damn sad over it. Because i hate to screw up things that i shldn't. My mistakes were first-class dumb, really. Like i smelt So2/Co2 (litmus) but decided to follow tzewei and write H2, now wrong! Shitz. And when asked to use filtrate, i used residue and therefore all the reseults were crap. damn it damn it damn it. tbh, just at the start of experiment, i analysed the whole experiment already, and my analysis was spot on. But somehow, the test made me nervous and i jsut became frantic. crap. Now my chem is screwed.... sighz..

I am underachieving for physics, chemistry, math, jap etc etc. damnit.

But math test was okie. tbh, when i myself finished, i thought everyone would find it easy, but in the end it raped lots of people. weird. But i do agree that the test wasn't set for muggers. it requires a certain degree of thinking, which can't be attained form muggging. But i screwed up the bonus qn, cos i finishing it just when time ended. Give me 1 min more, and i will get 1 more bonus mark. screw it. Anywae i need the test to pull up my math score, cos i was damn carelss for the TA

erm... yar, i poned a lot of jap recently. tbh, i rather self study (though i din lol) and i feel rather crappy put in a crappy class. Plus the teacher seem to be a bitch.

and i think 4E ppl are really crazy. well, a bit of it is fine with me, but sometimes they really dunno where to cross the line..

my aims now
use the comp less!!!

Catch a man a fish, and you can sell it to him. Teach a man to fish, and you ruin a wonderful business opportunity. - Karl Heinrich Marx

food for thought. interesting quote isn't it? When people are proclaiming for some to teach others to fish, those who sell their fish actually benefits! That's why the top 3% of a society is richer than the other 97%. Cos they have brains, and they translate this into business acumen, hence their wealth.

Btw, i have found my file. I am freaking glad! Yes!! haha. never been so happy for some time already~

Now the weekend has been pretty much wasted. Now working on my chinese hw. And watching Chelsea-Liverpool at the same time. 1-0 gallas.

I have come to realise that it's just better to chat with certain personals. I have many contacts. But many of them, when you talk to them, it's just lag/afk, then "huh? lol." finish. It's completely pointless to talk to them. Whereas there's others who can have a nice little chat with me, u noe, a kind of chemistry...

After watching Guess on Fri, i think girls who can dance are so attractive. u noe the figure, the grace, the movements, just make them so charming. I think dancing is the best avenue to showcase a girl... just my opinions though

hmm... i'm editing pics with photoshop now. i need to learn that when there's hw and test piling up at a corner, i shld stop wasting time... telling myself since last yr... bleargh...

And yar, i am seriousy damn pissed abt this file losing issue.

It's not just a pencilbox. you can just replace the stationary and the thing itself. But a file is different. I have everything inside. Esp my stuff this year. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK. damn pissed.

So on the mrt, i called hongcheng. He helped me search but to no avail. bleargh.

Then i called teh admin, and "jane" tried to sound so helpful. She promise she would try her best to help me by recording my name in the lost section. Wow, how that helps. I dun fucking care if my name is recorded or watd i just want my file back. Simple rite? And when i tried to put this across, she thinks she gets my point by again assuring me

Seriously she needs to know that doesn't help. I need practical help, like maybe advice or what? And esp since she has the power, she shld be doing something tangible, like asking the clearners or wad. I am quite pissed with her as well.

And so many people knew i lost my file. Like Bennett, Eugene etc just like tell me good luck. Then sue ben was like saying "so?" -> wtf. And i actually got better response form an unexpected person. Though the person din say much or wad, at least the person made the effort to sound concerned, even though it may in the end be faked. if only that person is my classmate or someone closer to me...

Anyway, if u have seen this thick black file around 5 cm thick, please returned to me. Or sms me at 91289326

my sis banged her head several times these few days. hope it does not affect her super high intelligence

I shall blog about the past few days...

After Tue, which was CNY, it was sch again. Yes, sch. The boring, useless place we go to because we are students. On wed, i was like feeling so shag. Seriously. Normally during CNY, i wake up earliest at 10am. When i got woken up by 3 alarms at 5 plus, i was like how tired and I just felt like collapsing. Then lessons were very boring also. Math being the usual suspect.

Then got 1.6km run somemore. I took 9min plus!!! and i felt tired already. I am freaking useless. And during soccer, i was again nearing collapse. Our team, running on the back of a 5 match unbeaten run, faced sly's team , the second best team in the class. they scored 2 goals, one being a sly tapin and another a freak pass-cum-somehowwentgoalwards goal from CM. I scored 1 nice goal back, but still 2-1. I was feeling too tired. And i either ot too dehydrated or too tired, so i rested and went to drink water. Second match we won comfortably, 3-0.

Chinese was okie. Got this tingxie on people's names... but quite lame. Though i did quite well considering i did not study. CLE, was just chatting with Stanley, Sam soh abt Generals, the game i got addicted to during CNY. My fav is china, and they agreed. Its balance in power is really pro. By lunch time, i was nearing break. then had Bio lab. Just random, happend to see ms wincy today and she seemed slimmer. Mrs Foo decided to disect the sheep's eye. And the way she did it was totally gross. She was like cutting the lens, squeezing the humor, pulling and tearing etc etc. I love my eyes more now, i must admit. it was like a horror movie, maybe "the eye"?

Went for Rc later. So tired so i slacked in sickbay. Rongbing ponned, though he later told me he was sick. sianz.. Got home and i was damn tired again. Played generals again (!!!) AND just slept at around 11.

After 7 hrs of sleep, i was actually still feeling tired. wtf , it was 7 hrs. Just confirmed my illness. Slept on train soemmore. Math was again boring. But i was feeling so unwell i hardly talked crap. And then was geog. I went dining hall to eat first. Met Ms Low, the Chem teacher, who told me not to eat at this time. oh well... I went HML and slacked, or just try to sleep on the sofa. The 4E ppl were there, n became wild, just mass jumping over the sofas. in the end yiheng etc got kicked out by mrs yap.

Chinese test was quite hard. And i was not functioning. The name tingxie, i got 11/30 btw. Should have gotten much higher, cos i had a lot of careless mistakes. By assembly i was feeling like fainting again. House meeting. The skit was quite funny, with one liners and stuff. 3rd lang, which was boring. On the train home, after i bid farewell to Rongbing wuyang dtz etc, and sat down, i realised my file is missing!!!

Fuck, damn pissed now