COLD WAR

it began coz of clash b/w two world superpowers, the USA and the USSR. they were
in a battle for superority.
the Primary reason was the differing ideologies b/w the US and the Soviet Union.
USA believed in capitalism and so planned on other countries converting to the s
ame economic policy that they were under. where as soviet union had their own fu
nda of communists belief.
this differing in economic policies is the most important reason the cold war go
t out of control and became such a concern.
USSr, in the race for space technology, in october 1957 launched the sputnik I s
atellite. this left the US feeling inadequate compared to soviet Union. and henc
e to combat this they sent their own satellite a year later.
but US won this cold war and the soviet Union collapsed, US became the only worl
d superpower and still is today.
-- even though another superpower is building in the country of china.
AMERICAL INTERVENTION IN IRAQ
--iraq was invaded in 2003 by a US led coalition of the willing.
the iraqi govt. was accused of using chemical weapons against the Kurdish town o
f Halabjah in 1988, and in 1998 Iraq ended coopeeration with the UN special comm
ission to Oversee the destruction of Iraqi weapons Of Mass destruction (UNSCOM)
this withdrawal of cooperation propted "operation desert fox" a US and UK bombin
g campaign to destroy Iraq's Nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programme.
In march 2003 the US and Britain called on the security council to authorize mil
itary action against Iraq but were met with stiff opposition from france, Russia
, Germany and several Arab countries.
Despite this, on 17 march President Bush gave saddam and his sons 48 hours to le
ave Iraq or face War.
saddam did not comply and the invasion began on 19 march.
-- the invasion set off a sunni led insurgency (vidroh) and the installation of
a shiite dominated govt. is considered to have contributed to the growth of this
insurgency.
shiite and sunni militias began carrying out revenge attacks.
-- in mid 2006 the bombing of golden mosque in samara, holiest shiit sites worse
n the revenge attacks.
AMERICAN INTERVENTIOIN AND AFGHANISTAN
-- on october 7, 2001 the US supported by some NATO countries like UK and austra
lia & ors. began an invasion of Afghanistan under operation enduring freedom.
this invasion was launched to capture Osama bin laden, who was accused of the se
ptember 11, 2001 attacks.
-- the US Miltary forces did not capture him, though they toppled the taliban go
vt. and disrupted bin laden's Al-Qaeda N/w. The Taliban govt. had given shelter
to Bin Laden.
-- on 2 may 2011 bin laden was shot and killed by US ARmed forces in Pakistan.
WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION:
-- it intends to supervise and liberalize international trade.
commenced on jan 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the general ag
reement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948.
-- the organization deals with the trade b/w participating countries
-- the WTO's predecessor, the General Agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT), was
established after world war II in the wake of other new Multilateral institutio
ns dedicated to international economic cooperation--notably the Bretton woods in
stitutions known as the World Bank and the International Monetory Fund.
-- WTO has 155 members and 29 observer govt. European Union is a member also
-- The WTO provides a forum for negotiating agreements aimed at reducing obstacl
es to international trade and ensuring a level playing field for all,

-- its secretariat is in Geneva, switzerland where WTO DG sits

THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS:
-- ASEAN was established on 8 aug 1967 in Bangkok, thailand
-- founding fathers indonesia, malaysia, philipines, singapore and thailand
-- later brunei, vietnam, Lao PdR and maynamr and combodia joined makiing today
the 10 members of the ASEAN