The Vietnam War: Were the lessons learned?

The United States was involved in the Vietnam War for about twenty years and this resulted in the loss of many American as well as Vietnamese lives. There are many lessons America learned from this war and the most significant of these were in the areas of diplomatic negotiations, presidential leadership and finally, cultural relations. It is these lessons which have influenced the determination of American foreign policy since the end of the Vietnam War to the present time. Therefore, we shall discuss some of these issues in this paper.

According to Cavagnol (2007), the end of the Vietnam war saw a change in the foreign policy of the United States, which moved from an aggressive and militaristic one to one of diplomatic negotiations. The American failure and massive loss of life in Vietnam may have influenced this because of the negative public opinion that came out of the Vietnam affair. Furthermore, an anonymous article in the Tribune Business News (2010) states that the Vietnam War had made the American government very unpopular not only among the American people but also in the world because of such atrocities committed by its forces against the Vietnamese people. The shift to diplomatic negotiations was a move to help rehabilitate the image of America in the world stage in order to maintain its position of leadership. The move to diplomatic negotiations enabled the United States to achieve its foreign policy goals without the need of resorting to military aggression.

There were also changes in presidential leadership in the United States especially in matters of foreign policy. Bradford (2005) suggests that the decision to end the war in Vietnam saw a turn in presidential leadership in America from one which did not listen to public opinion to one which did. It was the first time that an administration since the beginning of the Vietnam war that had followed a policy different from the administration before concerning this war. Each president since nineteen seventy four has attempted to avoid the kind of situations that happened in Vietnam due to their disastrous effects and have instead moved towards policies which are more peaceful and have only used military action as a last resort as seen during the Gulf War and the War on Terror.

In the cultural context, the American government and people have come to accept that the American way of life is not necessarily the best way for other people in the world. Werner and Huynh (1993) state that the attempt to enforce American values and ideologies in Vietnam ended in complete failure due to the fact that America was giving its support to a very unpopular government. The American government, since the end of the Vietnam War until very recently, had pursued a policy of letting every country have its own system of government, cultural and social system without resorting to forcing them to conform to the ideals of the American way.

In conclusion, the Vietnam War taught many lessons to America, not only concerning how to handle foreign policy, but also to appreciate other people’s cultures as well as accepting the right of the people of foreign nations to self determination. Moreover, the experiences of this war saw a radical change of American policy towards other countries especially in the Third World from one of aggression to place pro-American governments in power, to one of diplomatic negotiations with regimes which it did not necessarily approve of. It is therefore an important thing for America to have learned from its Vietnam experience and to avoid making such mistakes in future.

Cited Works

Bradford, D. (2005). From people's war to people's rule: Insurgency, intervention and the lessons of Vietnam. Special Warfare,18(1), 44-45. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.alice.dvc.edu/docview/199400574?accountid=38376

Cavagnol, R. M. (2007). Lessons from vietnam. Marine Corps Gazette, 91(3), 16-19. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.alice.dvc.edu/docview/221462197?accountid=38376

Forum examines lessons from vietnam war.(2010, Mar 14). McClatchy - Tribune Business News, pp. n/a. Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.alice.dvc.edu/docview/458477176?accountid=38376

Werner, J & Huynh, L D. (1993). The Vietnam War: Vietnamese and American Perspective. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe Inc.

The Arab Spring

The Arab Spring is the series of events which happened and are still happening in the Arab world when the people of the various Arab nations started mass protests and open revolts against the autocratic regimes ruling over them. These events started taking place in Tunisia and they spread through Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain, and currently, it is happening in Syria. The Arab Spring has seen the fall of several autocratic regimes whose toppling has surprised many in the world. There are several ways through which these revolutions came to be and were organized. In this paper, we shall discuss some of the events which led to the Arab Spring and how most of the public protests were organized.

The Arab Spring came into existence as a response to the lack of political freedom in the various countries in which it has occurred. At first, they were peaceful protests some of which became armed struggles whose aim was to topple the autocratic regimes ruling over these countries. According to Ben-Meir (106), the rebellion against such governments was due to the fact that instead of taking into consideration the calls of their people to allow them more political freedom, these autocratic regimes responded with violence against peaceful protesters, a move which may have been spurred by their conception that their authority was being threatened and that there was a need for them to reclaim such authority by using brute force. The use of force against unarmed civilians led to the discrediting of the legitimacy of such governments and calls for the stepping down of these leaders were made from many international organizations and governments. Moreover, in cases such as Libya and Syria, the peaceful protests suddenly became fierce armed rebellions against the government which attacked the unarmed civilians.

Jones (447) states that protesters in the Arab Spring made very good use of modern technology such as social networks in order to organize protests as well as making people outside their countries aware of what was really going on because of the media blackout that had been created by the autocratic regimes. Many of these regimes had banned and continue to ban international journalists from having access to their countries perhaps because they do not wish for their crimes against their own people to be revealed in the international arena. To counter this, many protesters have devised ingenious ways of getting the information out of their countries including hacking through the heavily censored internet to sites which are most suitable for them to relay their messages. The violent crackdown on civilians by their own governments has also led many military personnel to defect from the government ranks and these have joined the protesters to form the core of the armed rebellion against the government. These military defectors have been very instrumental, through their skills and experience, to bring a semblance of discipline into the ranks of the rebels.

In conclusion, the Arab Spring has brought a lot of changes to the Arab world, most of which are positive especially in the political arena. Most of the countries formerly ruled by autocratic regimes have in the recent months had their first legitimate elections in decades and the majority of them have brought Islamist parties to power. Furthermore, those Arab governments which are afraid of what happened to their neighbors happening to them have started to allow more democratic space in their countries because they would otherwise lose their legitimacy. It is hoped that the Islamist parties which are currently coming to power in the wake of the Arab Spring will be more democratic than their predecessors.

Cited Works

Ben-Meir, Alon. "In all Or in Part: A Look at the Unique States in the Arab Spring and their Collective Future." The Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations 13.1 (2012): 105-16. ProQuest Research Library; ProQuest Research Library. Web. 17 Aug. 2012.

Jones, Peter. "The Arab Spring." International Journal 67.2 (2012): 447-63. ProQuest Research Library; ProQuest Research Library. Web. 17 Aug. 2012.

The Negative Effects of Drugs

Drugs are very important in the treatment of the various health problems that occur within the human population. Although drugs are important, some tend to have some very serious side effects on the patients who use them. In this paper, we shall discuss two drugs which have a high risk of giving patients some serious side effects.

There is a high risk for Multiple Sclerosis patients who take the drug Ampyra. The majority of these seizures occur within days of starting the dosage especially among those patients who had no prior history of seizures and it is advised that patients who miss a dose should not take extra doses because doing so will increase the seizure risk. Patients should stop taking the drug right away if they develop any problems and should immediately contact their doctors for advice about what to do next. The healthcare professional should order his patients’ blood tests periodically to monitor the kidney functions of their Multiple Sclerosis patients in order to reduce the chances of a seizure due to the use of Ampyra.

Healthcare professionals are supposed to regulate the dosage of the antibacterial drug cefepime in patients with kidney impairment because there have been some cases of a specific type of seizure called non - conclusive status epilepticus associated with the use of cefepime especially among patients with kidney problems who did not receive appropriate dosage adjustments of the drug. To minimize the risk of seizures, healthcare professionals should adjust the dosage of cepefime in patients with creatinine clearance less than or equal to 60mL/min and if seizures associated with cefepime therapy occur, the discontinuation of the drug should be considered. It is advised that patients should get in touch with their doctors if they have any inquiries or apprehensions about cefepime.

Cited Works

Food and Drug Administration. “FDA Drug Safety Communication: Cefepime and risk of seizure in patients not receiving dosage adjustments for kidney impairment.” Web 29 July, 2012 <www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/ucm30966.htm>

Food and Drug Administration. “FDA Drug Safety Communication: Seizure risk for multiple sclerosis patients who take Ampyra (dalfampridine).” Web 29 July, 2012 <www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugsSafety/ucm312846.htm>