Relationship between the United States and the Europe - Essay Example

History Research Paper 2001 North America The year 2001 in the United s and Canada began peacefully with the countries anticipating great economic growth and industry expansion. However, the September 11th terrorist attacks scattered every hope for economic growth making news in all the international media and affecting the global economy in several ways. Al-Qaeda, an Islamic terrorist group launched a series of four well-coordinated terrorist attacks in New York and Washington DC targeting major government facilities thereby resulting in the death of more than three thousand civilians in the countries. The civilians were citizens from different countries with the United States suffering the highest loss of citizens as would be expected. The attacks major events that affected several sectors of the country’s economy being the greatest event to happen not only in the continent but globally on that particular year. Terrorism is not a crime like any other since terrorists target governments but through the people. They therefore seek to cause great injuries to the population with the view of proving the government’s inability to protect its citizens. The attacks on the United States, the greatest economy in the world and the world’s super power thus depicted myriad security and intelligence lapses in the country. The loss of three thousand civilians coupled with the destruction of major public assets in the country’s busiest and most protected regions was a direct assault on the President George Bush’s administration. The country therefore went into a season of mourning as the government sought to address the several security lapses that had exposed the country to the terrorists thus resulting in the attacks. Among the major effects of the terrorist attacks in the country included myriad health factors as the toxic debris sediment in water bodies thereby exposing the population to various health risks besides the pressure that the attacks piled on the health facilities in the major cities. Besides the three thousand deaths, thousands of people suffered major injuries thereby seeking immediate health services. The confusion that ensues thereafter-crippled efficiency in the health sectors as the government strived to revamp the operation of health facilities with the view of equipping them with adequate resources to curb subsequent loss of life. The economy of the country nearly crippled as major businesses recorded slow businesses. The stock market that thrives in speculation went into disarray with investors incurring losses that amounted to billions of dollars. Such vulnerable sectors of the economy as tourism recorded reduced businesses as people feared for engaging in such services. The hospitality industry thus recorded slow business contributed to slow economic growth. In a summary, the 9/11attacks were the major events that occurred in the year 2001 globally. The attacks slowed the pace of economic growth besides the various diplomatic rows that arose from attacks. The United States declared war on specific countries in the Middle East that it considered perpetrators of the attacks. The attacks exposed the population thus portraying the ineffectiveness of the Bush administration. As business incurred great loses, the government sought to protect its territories by drawing major lessons from the attacks. The government has since instituted major security features including new security agencies dedicated to keeping the country safe from terrorist attacks. The attacks followed a series of attacks on American embassies in east Africa thereby prompting the government to revise its diplomatic and security policies with the view of protecting her citizens globally. Asia The year 2001 in Asia began lowly with India, the most populated country in the world experiencing the worst earthquake in fifty years, the quake that measured 7.9 on the Richter scale resulted in the death of more than two thousand people with thousands other escaping with varied injuries. The quake spread to other countries in the continent including Pakistan and Nepal. The natural calamity had myriad effects in the country’s economy and was a major global news for varied reasons key among which was the humanitarian need. The death of two thousand five hundred people as reported by international media was a major humanitarian situation that portrayed both the magnitude of the quake and the lack of emergency preparedness in the most populated country in the world. The quake coincided with the country’s Republic Day celebration thereby dumping the mood of the celebrations with the government declaring the disaster “a calamity of national magnitude”. The quake occurred in western parts of the country spreading through the state of Gujarat one of the largest states in the country. India’s large population makes it one of the leading global markets as multinational corporations compete for the large market share in different industries. As such, the country prides in low labor costs a factor that has attracted hundreds of both local and international investors to the country. The earthquake in India was therefore a global event that affected several nations whose citizens were living and working in the region. Furthermore, just as stated earlier the humanitarian situation resulted from the death of thousands of people and the injury of many others required the global participation in order to help redevelop the country soon after the disaster. The tremor displaced hundreds of thousands leaving people homeless in the streets while fearing for more tremors thereby compounding the humanitarian need. Different countries reacted spontaneously with governments sending their support in different ways. The United States sent both financial and material aid in the form of food and rescue equipment with the hopes of expediting the rescue process. Other countries that acted similarly included China, the United Kingdom and Belgium among many others. Alongside the aid missions, different countries launched evacuation programs in order to facilitate the transfer of their affected nationals. Subsequent aftershocks amounted to eighty with some measuring more than 5.6 on the Richter scale thereby compounding the damages that resulted from the loss as roads became impassable, power and telephone lines destroyed thereby impairing communication thus the rescue operations. In a summary, the earthquake in India, one of the worst in fifty years caused several loses key among which was the death of two thousand five hundred people. The large magnitude quake destroyed cities and towns. The quake destroyed businesses and infrastructure thereby causing financial loses to both the government and the private sector. The quake therefore slowed the country’s development plan compelling the government to begin rebuilding of the cities and towns most of which were destroyed. Business in the countries incurred major loses as investors lost their investments in varying magnitudes. Additionally, the quake portrayed the country’s lack of preparedness in disaster management as most people died while other acquired varied injuries owing to lack off effective evacuation procedures. Africa Among the major developments in Africa within the year included the transformation of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) into African Union (AU), a body the continent’s leaders believed would succeed in intensifying economic activities within the continent thereby championing growth. The transformation of the previous organization in a reformed union sought to unite the African countries with the view of creating the United States of Africa. Sources privy to the meeting held in Lusaka Zambia stated that the meeting sought to create a united Africa. However, as South African President Jacob Zuma explained the new union would not adopt a similar strategy employed by the United States. The new union would retain a degree of liberty with countries enjoying their sovereignties. This implied that the structure of the union envisaged the structure of the European Union. The African continent has faced several political and economic challenges that have curbed the continent’s development. The continent rich in natural resources continue to face civil wars, corruption and natural catastrophes all of which have succeeded in impoverishing the continent. The countries thus formed the Organization of African Unity to provide the leaders with a platform to share ideas and address their issues. However, the organization had failed in curbing the problems owing to the absence of effective legislations. In 2001, the leaders thus sought to address the organization’s shortfalls thereby prompting the rebranding, which resulted in the creation of various factions to oversee the equal development of the continent. The African Union would therefore provide effective legislations for uniting the continent thereby enhancing economic activities. Additionally, the new union would help form a legislative organ to ensure peace and stability in the continent by trying leaders accused of both economic and political crimes in their respective countries. As the meeting held in Lusaka Zambia portrayed, the African leaders understand the issues that inhibit growth and development of the continent. By creating the new union, they sought to address some of the challenges key among which included the development of international trade within the continent. The leaders acknowledged that difficulty in movement within the continent owing to redundant legislations contributed to the continent’s underdevelopment. They developed effective policies that would enhance cross border movement of both goods and people with the view of intensifying cross border trade among the several countries. Such a move would open up the different countries and the entire continent to foreign investors by increasing the size of the market, the countries would therefore attract more foreign and domestic investors thereby expediting the continent’ economic development. In retrospect, the transformation of the organization of African unity to African Union sought to address the continent’s several problems as the leaders developed frame works for ensuring peace and rapid economic growth. Peace in the continent has been a major yet an equally elusive factor. Civil wars and election violence in different countries has curtailed economic growth in the country contributing to the abject disregard to human rights as has been the case. The new union developed an effective channel that would address civil strife in the continent by creating a judicial system. With the creation of a peaceful continent, the leaders further sought to expand economic activities in the continent (Greenwood and Richard 45). This would help develop the continent. They therefore revised the laws governing movement throughout the continent as they made it easier for people to move freely thereby seeking to expand international trade. Middle East The economic and diplomatic activities in the Middle East slowed in the year 2001 as the conflict between Israel and Palestine escalated to unprecedented levels thus threatening the outbreak of a war between the countries. Ariel Sharon took office in March the same year as the Israeli prime minister and began implementing policies that the Palestinian authorities considered unrealistic. In the same year, Palestinian soldiers attacked parts of Israel carrying out indiscriminate bombings in different parts of Israel. Israel on the other hand reacted instantly with an equal measure of force targeting Palestine military and police stations thereby causing several indiscriminate killings. The conflict between the two countries threatened to spill into an international war as different nations had begun forming blocs around the two countries. Layer in the same year, Israeli government accused Palestine government led by Yasser Arafat of supporting terrorist activities. The sour relationship between Palestine and Israel is often of immense interest globally owing to the role that the two play in the determination of regional peace in the Middle East region. Israel enjoys close ties with the United States the world’s largest economy and super power. The country has therefore often served as America’s gateway to the volatile Middle East region. Governments from other super economies such as China, France, the United Kingdom and Russia therefore always observe the alignments and position of the United States in such regional conflicts a feature that can makes the conflict between the two regions essential to the global peace. The conflict between the two countries in the year 2001 threatened to turn into a full-blown war with the two conflicting countries engaging each other in open warfare as they both carried out military offensive against each other. Palestine bombed several regions in in neighboring Israel causing the death of civilians. While Israel termed such military offensive as acts of terror, the country reacted by carrying out dedicated military offensive against the country’s military and the police force thereby resulting the death of people in Palestine. Such military offenses do not only result in the death of innocent civilian as explained above but also threatens the global peace thereby inhibiting economic activities in the region. The miss trust that exists between Palestine and Israel has severe global ramifications as their allies regulate their economic interactions with other countries they consider as opponents (Cutlip, Allen, Charles and Glen 121). The United States for example maintains a passive relation with Palestine among other countries. Such sour relations arise from the countries’ engagement with Israel coupled with the accusation of terrorism a feature that compelled the United States to launch a military offensive against Iraq two years later. In conclusion, the conflict between Palestine and Israel was a major global concern in the year 2001 as it threatened to turn into a war. Coupled with the terrorist attack in the United States in the same year, several governments globally thus became wary and observed the trend of the conflict with the hopes of intervening in order to prevent a regional conflict. As explained, Israel enjoys favorable relationship with the United States a feature that attracted intense global interest on the reaction of the United States, a country that had suffered a major terrorist attack in the same year. The United States later launched a major military offensive in Iraq, a close ally to Palestine for claims of cooperating with terrorists just as Israel had accused Palestine authority. Europe In 2001, the European Union, a fifteen member economic entity in Europe experienced one of the worst economic contraction. While the economic slowdown had begun in the United states following the economic fallout in the year, the manifestation of the problem compounded in Europe owing to the overreliance on the united states and the use of a single currency in different economic zones. An economy is a self-sustaining cycle, one in which the activities in one sector easily affects the profitability of the other. The slowing economic activities in Europe in the year was a result of a series of undesirable economic occurrences culminating in the American bombing which threatened to compound the economic crisis into a global affair. The economic slowdown was therefore an international affair owing to the interest that people have on the economies of some of the strongest economies in Europe. The economic patterns in such countries affect the global economy feature that validates the immense interest on the trend as different governments sought to redress the crisis. As explained earlier, the crisis began following the economic fallout in the United States. The fallout limited the volume of foreign investments in the region thereby instigating the conflict. The voluminous value of trade existing between the United States and Europe makes the two regions susceptible to economic factors prevailing in the two region. Thousands of Americans invest in companies in Europe while millions of other Europeans invest in many American companies both in the United States and in the continent. This implies that any economic factor prevailing in the United States such as the economic fallout in the year 2001 must have severe economic ramifications in Europe, as was the case in 2001 thereby instigating one of the worst economic crisis in the continent (Alexander 23). Among the effects of the crisis in different countries in Europe included increase in unemployment as major companies closed while other reduced the number of their employees in a bid to cut the cost of doing business in the region. The reduction in funding from the American based investors coupled with the limitation of the American market owing to the fallout affected businesses in the region forcing companies to supplant their employees. The supplanting reduced the gross domestic product of many countries in the regions as the purchasing power of the population declined drastically. Briefly, the economic slowdown experienced in Europe in 2001 was a major setback to the development of some of the strongest global economies thereby instigating a global economic slowdown. The close relationship between the United States and the Europe contributed to the manifestation of the economic problem in Europe since every economic occurrence in either region causes similar effects in the other. The fallout in the United States reduced the volume of commercial activities in the continent a factor that escalated the effects of the crisis. Works cited Alexander, Barry. International Financial Reporting and Analysis (5th edition). Oxford: Oxford university press, 2010. Print. Cutlip, Scott M., Allen, H. Charles, and Glen, Broom M. Effective Public Relations. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 2011. Print. Greenwood, D. Timothy and Richard, P. Francis. Local Economic Development in the 21st Century: Quality of Life and Sustainability. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe, 2010. Print. http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200112/28/eng20011228_87645.shtml Kotler, Philip and & Kevin, Keller. Marketing Management. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2010. Print. Read More