Russo-Turkey Relations and the Middle East

Russo-Turkey Relations and the Middle East Abstract The relation which Turkey share with Russia in the recent decades has been an example of truly bonding nature. Over a prolonged friendly relation for more than two decades, Turkey’s relations with Russia exacerbated first when it shot Russian bomber jet over the Syrian border and secondly the unfortunate killing of Russian ambassador which happened in Ankara. These incidents surely put a question mark on the peaceful relations of Turkey with Russia. Whether what the reality be, Turkey is accused for stabbing Russia in the back. These sore tending acts initially resulted in various sanctions posed by Russia against Turkey. In this alarming situation where crises have overtaken most of; Europe, Middle Eastern region and Russia, this rivalry may caution many states in the coming world order. Preface The crisis in the Middle Eastern region has brought in its wake a perceptible shift in Russo-Turkey relations in the contemporary arena. At first, the downing of a Russian Su-24 bomber jet by Turkish F-16 fighter over the Syrian-Turkish border bewailed the President of Russia. The subsequent reaction of that incident provided a great index of the deterioration between both. Secondly, the assassination of the Russian ambassador Andrey Karlov in Turkey put a stamp on Turkey’s goodwill in the sights of Russia. Russia was once considered a bitter enemy of Turks. In the contemporary arena, several ingredients have refreshed the erstwhile tensions as witnessed in the Tsarist and Ottoman eras. With the passage of time, the interaction between them has been fluctuating in keeping with the geographic and leadership transformation. By far, Syrian crisis is the latest point of contradiction between them, representing diverging interests. This is becoming a test case for the two for demon strating their lost-power in the wake of contemporary transformations in the world order from unipolar to multipolar. The policies of both the states towards Syria run counter to each other. Russia has shared a strong economic partnership with Syria, fact being that it (Syria) has remained a major beneficiary of Russian weaponry while Turkish Prime Minister, in 2012 called on Bashar al Assad to step down as the President of Syria. No doubt, there are convergences and divergences between Russia and Turkey to project their policies with each other as well as other stakeholders of the region. This paper is intended to analyse the Russo-Turkey relations in the backdrop of their interests in the Middle East, following the significance, convergences and divergences of their relations which have given rise to their contemporary role in the arena. After the discussion on the matter, this paper has extracted the role of Pakistan and has suggested way forward for Pakistan’s foreign policy concerning the subject matter. Why Middle East matters the most to Russia and Turkey? The critical interests of Russia and Turkey both lies in the Middle East. However they do not tend to be the same. Under the umbrella of NATO, Turkey is exercising its policies as an independent state in the Middle Eastern crisis. Syria, Iraq and Iran being border stitched to Turkey are perceived to be under strong observations of Turkish policy makers. While Russia, not a NATO member has a different framework for the region, particularly its need for the Mediterranean Sea, weaponry market and trading of oil and gas is apparent. Mediterranean Sea links Russia with Eastern Mediterranean Sea, the Middle East and North Africa. So any situation of conflict, war or unease in these regions has impact on Russia’s political position. There are number of factors that are driving the Turkish policy in which Saudi Arab is a part. Turkey has made it clear that it wants the overthrow of Assad. This is the first time in its history that Turkey adopts a regime-change strategy. When the United States decided to counter ISIS with the help of possible regional alliance, Turkey refused to get actively involved unless the coalition were to target both ‘Assad’ and ISIS at the same time. It is clear that Ankara favours a war to the end of weakening all parts: Assad, ISIS, the Kurds and Iran. Yet it always preferred to rely on proxies and calls on NATO and the international community to intervene in Syria. It was because of this very tactic that Ankara allowed the Peshmerga (Iraqi Kurdish forces) to enter the Syrian town of Kobane through Turkey to help the Syrian Kurds in the battle against ISIS and this is again the reason why it decided to support the jihadists in Syria. While, Russia is seen more as to helping its friend Assad in the play as recently it condemned the United States’ air strike on Syria’s chemical launch pads. Syria is the only country in the region which has Russia’s base(s). Continuing its efforts to play a role and get hold of the oil, gas and other economic factors, Russia’s stance on Middle East policy is evident and strong in its intentions. Significance of Russia-Turkey relations Under the leadership of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russia and Turkey signed mutual agreements and MoUs for increasing both countries’ relations in terms of trade and cooperation.Turkey has remained one of Russia’s main trading partners. Both share huge amount of business in the sectors of energy, tourism and trade. The statistics show a viable flow of synergy between both. There is a proposed construction of a gas pipeline as well as the Akkuyu power plant, which may be affected after downing of a Russian jet by Turkey as a disputed incident. According to a Turkish academic, any damage to the infrastructure deals could be significant, because Turkey imports 55 percent of its natural gas from Russia and 30 percent of its oil. â€Å"Turkey has close strategic ties with Russia in terms of energy relationship with Russia, so it may be that the Turkish Stream project as well as the nuclear energy project – which is going to be constructed by the Russians could be affected, Professor Gurkan Kumbaroglu from Bogazici Universitys department of engineering, told CNBC. So it is apparent if any sort of clash of ideas occur in Russo-Turkey relations, Russia has its hands on the switch to constrain Turkey politically without involving any armed conflict. Similarly, Russia’s tourism department entertains much of Turkey’s tourism industry as 3.6 million Russians visited Turkey in the first nine months of 2013, according to the latest statistics of Russia’s Federal Tourism Agency. This definitely adds a lot to Turkish economy and proved Russia has the power to restrict its citizens to travel Turkey in the emergence of any dispute between the two countries. On the other hand, trade is the most primary sector which both countries has shared since few decades with tremendous outcomes. Turkish vegetable exports account for some 20 percent of vegetable exports to Russia. In 2014, according to Turkish foreign trade statistics, exports to Russia were worth $5.9 billion while imports from Russia were worth $25.2 billion. This scenario is more prone to absolute gains rather than relative gains because not only Turkey relies on Russian oil, gas and energy but Russia’s dependency on Turkish geostrategic location is a perfect example to say Turkey is also at gains. Convergences of Russia-Turkey relations Contemporary Russia did not take Turkey as an independent state and always restrained to be in connection with it until 2003 when surprisingly The Justice and Development Party of Turkey refused to allow American forces to use Turkish territory to invade Iraq. This proved to be a game changer for Russia’s perception towards Turkey. The relations furthered in a positive way leaving the footprints of Cold War era outside the door when Turkey, as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was considered a frontline state in the divide between the communist bloc and the western bloc. Surprisingly, given the unrest in the North Caucasus and the Balkans on which issue the policies of Ankara and Moscow clashed, these relations changed. The tangible convergences between the duos can be elaborated as under: Turkey’s need of oil and gas is one of the major convergence in the Russo-Turkey relations. The economic interests of both countries meet but there are points of divergence in various strategic plans to extend oil and gas pipelines between countries of the Central Asia, and the Middle East on the one hand and the European market on the other.   So, they need to act rationally towards each other to organize their interests. Russia’s dependency on Turkey is also apparent because Turkey might remain Russia’s necessary gateway to the Mediterranean, just as the Ottoman Empire was in the past. Nonetheless, there has been efforts to institutionalize relations between the two countries which, in the form of Turkish-Russian Cooperation Council in April and May 2010 got established. Since then the two leaders of the country have met annually. It has put a lot of impact on the international image of bilateral relations of Russia and Turkey because leaders from both sides warmly welcomed each other since then. Divergences, clashes and disputes There have been large number of conflicts ever since the Tsarist Russia and Ottoman Empire since 1560s. The Russian side won more battles than Turkey which clearly indicates the significance of geographic disposition of Russia. However, Crimean War led Russia lose due to possible stronger alliance of Ottomans with British, French and Italian forces. While in the contemporary world, Turkey’s neighbourhood has been in a turmoil, mainly Middle Eastern countries, which has directly influenced Turkey’s dealings with Europe and Russia. Today, the changed relationship between Turkey and Russia has been affected by strategic considerations and political interests relating to the current reality in the Middle East. Especially the crisis in Syria has moved both Turkey and Russia oppositely in terms of national interests. The two countries are not on the same pitch regarding the crisis. Turkey has clearly taken steps to remove the regime of Assad whereas Russia regards Assad’s ongoing leadership as a necessary condition to cope with the turmoil in the collapsed state. Preservation of its own strategic interests in the Middle East, Russia is sensitive in providing support to Assad. The conflict of interests between Turkey and Syria includes border issues, questions pertaining to water and riparian rights, religious outlook, political-military orientation, drug-trafficking, smuggling, terrorism (Kurdish insurgency), and espionage etc. Analysis Syrian crisis and all the history of Russo-Turkey relations aside, today, it is thought that Turkey has created a trust deficit in relation to its bilateral relations with Russia. On the other hand Russia is also thought to have taken Turkish early warnings serious. However, there was not a serious threat to Turkey from Russia. Perhaps, Turkey could have considered many points of conflict before downing a Russian jet which was merely on its airspace (according to Russian narrative of the incident) at Turkey-Syria border. Russia in no time retaliated and adopted a political approach launching serious sanctions against Turkey. The trauma was not much concerning the policies of Turkey or Russia towards Syrian crisis but shooting down a Russian jet paved a way of thinking for the Russians to analyse Turkey’s intentions and goals for the coming days. Subsequently Russia accused Turkey of being in business with the Islamic State of Syria. Similar reactions are observed from Turkish side as well. The war of words between the leaders of both countries have definitely evoked state of unease and unrest to their bilateral relations. The conflict however is not seen as beneficial for any side at all. Russia, despite of its potential projects in Turkey, has unilaterally signed sanctions against it. However there are no signs of waging a war by any of them against each other. In recent decades, Russia and Turkey have shared friendly and cooperative relations sharing economic, trade, military and projects related to energy sector. Both have respected each other’s view in the international decision-making process. The issue is not only limited to the interests of both the countries, but then again there are risk factors which are giving shape to their policies. Turkey is not land locked, but still it’s a jigsaw which connects whole Asia with the Europe. This puts a lot of responsibility for any leader of the Turkey to stand head to head against any turmoil which may disrupt country’s repute in the international arena. While Russia, despite being connected with many states, has to depend on the market of Middle East, European countries and specifically Turkey to constitute its trade, military, economic and foreign policy for survival as a state. It is clear that international relations are uncertain and unpredictable, both are crucially unparalleled to each other and the lack of trust between them is now a bone of contention. However, with the passage of time, relations may grip instead of losing its charm because Russia may digest what happened, or Turkey, which is not apparent at all, might apologize for its act of downing a Russian jet. Because, in an emerging world order into multi polarity, the interests of others may urge Russia and Turkey to rethink of their relations in a positive manner. Foreign policy guidelines for Pakistan in case of Russia-Turkey conflict The conflict of ideas between Russian and Turkish relations hasn’t directly influenced Pakistan to take any action of concern. However Pakistan does share points of convergences with both in terms of trade, educational exchange programs and tourist activities. In a nutshell, Pakistan and Turkey define each other as ‘sister countries’, and the friendly relations of both as a Muslim state is the apex of their strong bonds. On the other hand, while not overriding its relations with India, Russia has shown great interest to re-establish its bilateral relations with Pakistan. This can succeed the idea for Pakistan to maintain a balanced foreign policy towards Turkey and Russia in this matter. Yet again the ill-timed row between Russia and Turkey has subjugating power to keep Pakistan a neutral observer. At this point in time, Pakistan as a member of global community, having its national interests in Turkey, Russia and other Middle Eastern countries, has a shared responsibility to play positive role for the betterment of relations between them. In a limited context, Pakistan may adopt a policy of deescalating the tensions between both and suggest measures of cooperation and coordination to tackle the situation. Not to forget, Yemen crisis affected thousands of Pakistani citizens and resulted in their departure from Yemen. This puts Pakistan in a situation to tactfully regulate its obligation to work for the betterment of its own citizens while maintaining sustainable relations with other countries. Pakistan can beget neutralizing role to the hard lined tensions between Turkey and Russia and may need to facilitate both for the emergence of pleasant and reputed ties. Readings http://russiancouncil.ru/en/inner/?id_4=6978#top-content http://en.trend.az/azerbaijan/karabakh/1616142.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aylin-unver-noi/turkey-and-russia-days-of_b_8695800.html http://tass.ru/en/economy/764152 http://studies.aljazeera.net/en/positionpapers/2013/05/20135795421533494.htm http://www.rubincenter.org/2012/04/russo-turkish-divergence-part-i-the-security-dimension/ http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34971902 http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/24/world/middleeast/russia-turkey-jet-shoot-down-maps.html http://www.azernews.az/analysis/90476.html http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2015/Oct-09/318233-turkey-warns-russia-energy-ties-at-stake.ashx http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/The-confrontation-between-Turkey-and-Russia-Lessons-for-Israel-436236 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-crisis-turkey-nato-idUSKBN0TJ14F20151130?utm_source=Facebook http://tribune.com.pk/story/1001173/turkey-will-not-apologise-for-downing-russian-fighter-jet-pm/ http://tribune.com.pk/story/1000436/russia-announces-economic-sanctions-against-turkey-over-jet-downing/ https://www.rt.com/op-edge/323430-russian-plane-down-turkey-us-nato/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/turkey-russia-tensions_5655c9dbe4b08e945fea945b http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/latest-russian-pilot-says-no-warnings-turkey http://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/77659-turkey-would-have-acted-differently-if-it-had-known-jet-was-russian-erdogan https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/10/09/how-the-rivalry-between-russians-and-turks-shaped-the-world/ http://www.sigmalive.com/en/blog/zenonas.tziarras/2015/06/963/turkey-and-saudi-in-syria-aligned-interests-clashing-revisionisms http://tribune.com.pk/story/860335/every-effort-being-made-for-evacuation-of-pakistanis-from-yemen-fo/ http://www.dailysabah.com/diplomacy/2015/05/17/pakistan-and-turkey-are-two-leading-countries-in-the-islamic-world

Utopia in Gulliver Travels and Paradise Lost Essay -- comparison compa

The Inconceivable Utopia in Gulliver Travels and Paradise Lost  Ã‚      In Jonathon Swift's Gulliver Travels and in John Milton's Paradise Lost, the reader is presented with two lands representing utopias. For Swift this land is an island inhabited by horse like creatures called Houyhnhnms who rule over man like beasts called Yahoos. For Milton, the Garden of Eden before the Fall of man represents Paradise. In it, Adam and Eve are pure and innocent, untested and faithful to God. The American Heritage Dictionary defines utopia as "an ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects." And while Houyhnhnm Land and the Garden of Eden may seem like ideally perfect places, they are not. Indeed, they contradict our ideas of utopia.    Our fascination with utopias stems from our attraction to and pursuit of progress within our own society. We study utopias with the hope that our society will someday evolve into one. But what often goes unnoticed is that if our society improves enough to become utopian, it won't be able to improve any longer. Hence, it will be rigid and unchanging, the complete opposite of what it was as it evolved to its elevated state. This is an awful truth for us because we place value and virtue in the ideas of desire and progress. Our reason tells us: once in an ideal land, desire cannot simply cease to be, because desire is part of our human nature. And our reason is right. An ideal society should accentuate our human nature, not suppress it. As we desire a perfect society we know that a perfect could not exist without our desire. And as long as we desire, we hope for progress. The idea that an utopia wouldn't allow such progress to occur is enough to make us stop believing in utop... ...ames Holly. "Milton and the Art of War." John Milton, Poet and Humanist: essays by James Holly Hanford. Cleveland: Press of Western Reserve U, 1966. 185-223. Lock, F. P. The Politics of Gulliver's Travels. Oxford, Great Britain: Oxford University Press, 1980. Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Ed. Roy Flannagan. New York: Macmillan, 1993. Patrides, C.A. Milton and The Christian Tradition. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966) Revard, Stella Purce. The War in Heaven. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1980. Rodino, Richard H. "The Study of Gulliver's Travels, Past and Present." Critical Approaches to Teaching Swift. New York: AMS Press, 1992. Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver's Travels. Mahwah, NJ: Watermill Press, 1983. Tuveson, Ernest. (Ed.) Paradise Lost: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964.

Deadly Unna Film Essay

Australian Rules A comparative review by Anita Jetnikoff (QUT) for Australian Screen Education. Published as: Jetnikoff, Anita (2003) Australian Rules: a comparative review. Australian Screen Education(30):36-38. The title may mislead some viewers, as this is not a film about a football code, anymore than Bend it with Beckham is about soccer. This powerful, brave and rather brutal feature is the debut of Paul Goldman, who co-wrote the screenplay with the novelist Phillip Gwynne. Both the storylines and characters from Gwynne’s awardwinning novel Deadly Unna? nd its sequel Nukkin Ya, have been combined in the film, which was commissioned by South Australian Film Corporation for the Adelaide Festival of Arts 2002, and caused a furore with the local Aboriginal community. The film was screened after much deliberation over the objections against depictions of a character resembling a member of the Penninsular community. This certainly suggests collaboration with Indigenous communities could have been sought at earlier stages of the project. In my reading of the film, however, it is the white community who emerge the more brutal, bigoted and shameful. The Aboriginal community, on the other hand, represent solidarity, and sharing. The film was released and promoted by Palace, with the slogan ‘live by the rules play by the rules’. There is, however, an almost apartheid divide between the black [Nunga) and white [Goonya) communities in this film and the central character’s personal navigating between the two, means he must break unwritten rules. The film is based on aspects of two novels, the partly autobiographical novel Deadly Unna, and its sequel, Nukkin Ya, Nunga expressions for ‘Great hey’ and ‘See you later’. Both novels were easy to read and full of humour in spite of the serious subject matter of racism, interracial relationships, adolescent angst, death and revenge. The novels belong to the adolescent problem or coming-of-age genre and are being studied in secondary schools. The film has little of the novels’ lightness and the narrator’s ability to laugh at himself and his community’s foibles. This sometimes disturbing film’s tone is brutal, the landscape stark, sordid and in decay. Most of the characters occupying the saline, arid coastal town are nasty. The adult men are barflies, maggot breeders, fornicators and losers and the women are victims or sluts. This hopeless adult world offers nothing for the young in this fishing town. Viewers are invited to identify with the young, for whom hope lies in escape. The central figure of Blacky (Nathan Phillips), is an intelligent 14 year old caught between the literary world of his imagination and the literal world of his small towns’ bigotry. His mother, who encourages him to play football and to do well at school, is a battler, a victim of his father’s brutality. The dilapidated house the Black family occupy oozes poverty and neglect. These are white fringe dwellers. In the novel Blacky refers to what kind of chops the family will consume as indicative of the ‘pov metre’. They shop at the local op shop. Like many small rural Australian towns, this coastal community struggles to survive. The black and white communities in the region are divided, separated physically by a stretch of coastline, whites at the port and blacks at the point. Even the local pub segregates the Aboriginal drinkers from the white ones. The irony is that the local football team is only viable when the Aboriginal boys come over from the point to play. The sporting fixture allows the communities to merge, but the union stops there. Blacky crosses the racial divide to befriend Dumby Red (Luke Carroll) a talented Aboriginal Australian Rules Player from the Point and to romance Dumby’s sister Clarence (Lisa Flanagan). Whereas book built up the friendship through Blacky’s doubt and hesitation about Dumby, this is not dealt with in the film. The film opens with the two characters already mates, sitting together in the dilapidated shed of the red dirt football field, commiserating over the ineffectiveness of their coach, Arks (Kevin Harrington). Dumby’s spectacular football prowess has been spotted by a city talent scout, which sets up the need for him to win best Player in the final against a much stronger team. A contract to a city football team would mean a possible escape from the bigotry and emptiness of the Penninsular—his chance to be a sporting success. Blacky finds himself an unwitting hero and awarded best team man for winning the premiership game. He unwittingly collides with the toughest star player on the opposing team and is knocked unconscious, along with his gigantic opponent. The shooting sequences of the match were not especially riveting, but this was in keeping with the importance of the game to the story. The film is not about winning or losing, but the personal integrity of the play or the journey in the ongoing process of discovering identity. The medal for ‘Best on the Ground’, rightly belonged to Dumby Red. His ticket out of the hopeless community, however, was denied to him, because rather than kicking a sure goal, he had passed a ball to a cousin who had not handled the ball all day. The cultural code of sharing was stronger than the competitive need to win. In the film, the loss of the award to the coach’s son paves the way for Dumby’s tragic demise. He joins Pretty (Tony Briggs) in an armed robbery of the pub, perhaps to extract an alternative prize to the one he’d been denied. The publican, Mac, laid out in a drunken stupor on the pool table, is beaten even more senseless by Pretty. The noise rouses Blacky’s father (Simon Westaway) who shoots and kills his son’s friend Dumby Red in revenge for the publican’s beating. In the novel the publican was the murderer, but the film’s central villain is Blacky’s father, Bob, who represents fear, loathing and menace. His violent rages left his own family in fear of him. In one memorable scene they escape his menacing torment of their mother behind closed doors by escaping through the window and sleeping in the chicken coop. The feeling is that this experience was not new to them. Blacky is torn in the novel between his initial attraction to Clarence in Deadly Unna, which he conceals from his white ‘friends’ in order to attract the attention of a rich white ‘camper’ girl. In the sequel this relationship between Blacky and Clarence and Blacky and his father represent two kinds of coming of age. His masculinity is tested early on in a storm at sea and later when he was caught in the shed stealing paint to cover a racist slogan in the local boatshed. His intelligence means little to his father, and his good grades and scholarship to Kings College in Adelaide are ignored. In the sequel Nukkin Ya, the filial relationship seems almost mended when his father takes on the renovation of a ‘windjammer’ to bring potential tourism to the town. His father’s project becomes obsessive at the expense of putting food on the family’s table, but the male relationship seems to be temporarily repaired along with the boat, which becomes symbolic of rebuilding strength, unity and hope around the fantasy of the future. In the novels we experience Blacky’s angst at discovering his father’s infidelity to his mother. Blacky and his friend Pickles, stumble upon their adulterous fathers visiting the Aboriginal women at the point. The irony of this is that the entire community seemed set gainst the burgeoning love relationship between Blacky and Dumby’s sister Clarence. The fact that the cross-race relationship of the father is not dealt with in the film makes his violent reaction to finding Clarence innocently sleeping alongside Blacky in his bedroom connected more with his hatred of Aboriginal people, than it is to do with his guilt over murdering Dumby Red. It is a response reduced to racism alone, rather than his own guilt and hypocrisy, which in the novels is built up subtly through the two volumes. The antagonist in the second novel, having moved away from the father, is embodied by the figure of Lovely (Pretty, in the film) who menaces Blacky over his relationship with Clarence. Lovely sports a hate tattoo on his fingers and is a violent instigator in both book and film. The disclosure of the white men’s infidelity at the expense of the black women, who remain nameless and faceless, leads to the climax of the second novel. The boat is set alight, which symbolizes the death of the relationships between Blacky and his father and his community. Lovely is framed, Blacky absolves Lovely in court by taking the blame, but Pickles (Tom Budge ) was the real arsonist. This false confession, leads to Blacky becoming a cipher in his own town, where boats and the sea are peoples workplaces. He becomes a ‘boat burner’ in the cultural imaginary and is forced to leave. In the film this purging is less powerful and seems to emerge from some kind of corporate malice rather than revenge. Pickles manically sets alight rival maggot breeder Darcy’s breeding drums, which has less symbolic poignancy than the boat burning in the novel. Blacky’s central challenge in the film is to reaffirm his masculinity by standing up to his father, through the relationship with Clarence. Blacky is constructed by his father as a ‘gutless wonder. ’ Blacky’s painful journey to manhood, is much harsher in the film than the book. In the novel the father is a violent adulterer, but in the film, he kills Blacky’s best friend. Blacky’s attendance at Dumby’s funeral represents a betrayal of familial solidarity in the eyes of the father. The relationship was not strong enough however, for Blacky to take his father’s side. At this point, Blacky abdicates from identifying with his father. He has begun to flee the emasculated self constructed by his father, towards a more potent, sexual self, embodied by his attraction and identification with the other through the literal ‘body’ of Dumby and the physical, sexual body of Clarence. What is morally worrisome is that the father, who both Blacky and the viewer see as a murderer, continues to live in the community with impugnity, the ‘common sense’ gap we fill is that he claims he shot Dumby in selfdefense. Blacky courageously resists his father’s imperative to stay away from the funeral. In the film’s powerful and moving climax, the battered, but united family in the background witnesses the final stand off between father and son. Blacky literally stands up to his father, not by competing in battle of fists, but resisting by sheer will and strength of character. The father leaves in a vicious rage and we can’t help feeling that the family will be better off with him gone. The second novel Nukkin Ya begins with hope of Blacky taking a scholarship at Kings in Adelaide. His girlfriend Clarence achieves a scholarship to art school and Blacky has a reason to follow her. The film ends with the two young lovers romantically swimming in the clear waters, symbolically cleansing themselves of the grime and grease of prejudice, which had tainted their relationship until that point. The film treats the romance in a much lighter way than the books. There is no stand off between the characters; in fact Clarence becomes Blacky’s bridge between the two cultures. In the film it is Clarence who stands up to Bob Black in Blacky’s bedroom with dignity and silent resistance. Lisa Flanagan’s performance was elegant and dignified. It was Clarence who gently cut through the wall of hostility from the Nunga boys at her brother’s funeral- allowing Blacky to mourn his friend’s death. It was Clarence who understood Blacky’s poetic allusions to dying stars- these two are cosmically connected and there is an almost Shakespearean sense of their fate. The love scenes provide the film’s only softness and the resolution, although moving, is not sentimental. The young people must leave the still-divided community, to survive together.

The American College of Health Care Administrators 2019

The American College of Health Care Administrators (ACHCA)is a non-profit trade organization primarily for individuals who manage nursing homes or long term care facilities or who have a substantial interest in such a facility. This organization has extensive information on obtaining licensure to be manager of one of these facilities. There are requirements to pass a national exam and, in most states, a state licensure program and exam as well. The states administer the national exam, called the NAB exam (after the National Association of Boards of Examiners of Long Term Care Administrators). Each state has its own requirements for taking the national exam. Some require that you be engaged in or have completed an Administrator-in-Training program, which is a six-month, on-the-job apprenticeship-type course of study. Most states require a bachelors degree to qualify for the exam, but the field of study need not be health or business oriented. The ACHCA has a bookstore with preparatory materials for the national exam at http://portal.achca.org/PortalTools/Shopper/Index.cfm. The NAB also has material on the exam available: you can contact them through http://www.nabweb.org/Home/default.aspx. .u4dfd777225bcee9491fe77dae3800c59 { padding:0px; margin: 0; padding-top:1em!important; padding-bottom:1em!important; width:100%; display: block; font-weight:bold; background-color:#eaeaea; border:0!important; border-left:4px solid #34495E!important; box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.17); -moz-box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.17); -o-box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.17); -webkit-box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.17); text-decoration:none; } .u4dfd777225bcee9491fe77dae3800c59:active, .u4dfd777225bcee9491fe77dae3800c59:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; text-decoration:none; } .u4dfd777225bcee9491fe77dae3800c59 { transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; } .u4dfd777225bcee9491fe77dae3800c59 .ctaText { font-weight:bold; color:inherit; text-decoration:none; font-size: 16px; } .u4dfd777225bcee9491fe77dae3800c59 .post Title { color:#000000; text-decoration: underline!important; font-size: 16px; } .u4dfd777225bcee9491fe77dae3800c59:hover .postTitle { text-decoration: underline!important; } READ An Executive MBA Is The Leadership DegreeYou must contact your state of residency to determine their specific requirements for taking the national exam and what additional steps are required for state licensure. Most states also require annual renewal of the license, accompanied by proof of some hours devoted to continuing education in the field each year.The ACHCA has continuing education courses available that will help meet the requirements for re-licensure. As with the national and state test requirements, standards vary from state to state. There is an area on the ACHCA web site with state-specific contact information, but you must be a member of the organization to access it. ACHCA also maintains a certification program. They make the case that while licensure assures competency, certification assures a standard of excellence and that excellence in the field is a goal of the organization. Eligibility for the nursing home administrator certification is as follows: Two consecutive years of experience running a nursing facility and a license as an NHA; a bachelors degree if licensed after January of 1996; and forty hours of continuing education in the two years prior to the exam pertinent to the nursing home administration field. .u59b3410f768be4fed41f170f0438c014 { padding:0px; margin: 0; padding-top:1em!important; padding-bottom:1em!important; width:100%; display: block; font-weight:bold; background-color:#eaeaea; border:0!important; border-left:4px solid #34495E!important; box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.17); -moz-box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.17); -o-box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.17); -webkit-box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.17); text-decoration:none; } .u59b3410f768be4fed41f170f0438c014:active, .u59b3410f768be4fed41f170f0438c014:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; text-decoration:none; } .u59b3410f768be4fed41f170f0438c014 { transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; } .u59b3410f768be4fed41f170f0438c014 .ctaText { font-weight:bold; color:inherit; text-decoration:none; font-size: 16px; } .u59b3410f768be4fed41f170f0438c014 .post Title { color:#000000; text-decoration: underline!important; font-size: 16px; } .u59b3410f768be4fed41f170f0438c014:hover .postTitle { text-decoration: underline!important; } READ Financial Planning a Worthwhile CareerFor certification in the assisted living facility administrator field, eligibility for the exam includes: A current NHA license or Assisted Living (AL) license and two years experience running an assisted living facility; OR a bachelors degree and two years experience running an AL facility; OR an associates degree or RN degree and four years management experience in an AL facility; OR a GED or high school diploma and six years experience running a facility; AND forty hours of continuing education in the two years prior to the exam. The American College of Health Care Administrators is an organization of nursing home and assisted living facility administrators. Membership provides you with the usual professional connections, an annual trade show and academic support for both licensure and certification in the profession. It is a well equipped help desk for those interested in the field. Related ArticlesThe American College of Healthcare ExecutivesCareers in Health Care ManagementOnline BSN Program Do Employers Differentiate between ADN and BSN NursesOnline Colleges For Health CareChoosing a Good Health Care PlanAttaining a Health Care Management Masters Degree .ucfeb1ea69de2888771bb4d073550e12e { padding:0px; margin: 0; padding-top:1em!important; padding-bottom:1em!important; width:100%; display: block; font-weight:bold; background-color:#eaeaea; border:0!important; border-left:4px solid #34495E!important; box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.17); -moz-box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.17); -o-box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.17); -webkit-box-shadow: 0 1px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.17); text-decoration:none; } .ucfeb1ea69de2888771bb4d073550e12e:active, .ucfeb1ea69de2888771bb4d073550e12e:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; text-decoration:none; } .ucfeb1ea69de2888771bb4d073550e12e { transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; } .ucfeb1ea69de2888771bb4d073550e12e .ctaText { font-weight:bold; color:inherit; text-decoration:none; font-size: 16px; } .ucfeb1ea69de2888771bb4d073550e12e .postTitle { color:#000000; text-decoration: underline!important; font-size: 16px; } .ucfeb1ea69de2888771bb4d073550e12e:hover .postTitle { text-decoration: underline!important; } READ Students of Business Administration