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Introduction The Berlin Plus Agreement was signed on 16th December 2002 by Javier Solana, the European Union High Representative for the Common and Security Policy and George Robertson, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The main purpose is to enhance a bilateral cooperation on international security. The first mission held through the Berlin Plus agreement was promoted by the EU in Macedonia and Bosnia (2003). Named Concordia it provided concrete evidence of the importance of the Berlin Plus to be effective in order to safeguard Europe. After Concordia, a small but successful operation, the Berlin Plus Agreement was once again used for a military mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. EUFOR Althea was launched on 2nd December 2004 and has been going on until nowadays. Nevertheless these were the only missions undertaken within the framework of the Berlin Plus Agreement. Europe Common Foreign Security Policy (CFDP) was created in response to the lack of means from the EU during the Balkan Wars in the early 1990's. The Berlin Plus Agreement is a treaty created to legitimize the use of NATO means and expertise by the EU. Nevertheless politics had a huge impact in the effectiveness of the Berlin Plus Agreement. Before the creation of CSDP in the St Malo Act in 1998 – held during the Washington Summit - political tensions between Turkey and Cyprus/ Greece which had been going on since 1981 reached a climax after Greece became part of the then European Community (EC). Restrictions arouse between the EU and Turkey, their relationship worsened. The tension resulted from the EU recognition of Cyprus independence, whereas Turkey refused to legitimize it. The outcomes of these tensions were to jeopardize t... ...hree months) and a mission that would mean dealing with a real threat to national security. Furthermore the question about France ends up being very central in the CSDP question since France is the state that most pressures the EU to take part in military missions. Would CSDP exist if France was not there to pilot missions? Many European officials take the Foreign Policy of the EU for granted. The EU has been successful in the three missions engaged independently from NATO. Furthermore the main distinctiveness of the EU is its civilian comprehensive approach. Therefore this should be the main engagement of the EU. Even though the EU needs to have some security and defence protection for its borders, it should bear in mind that NATO exists to protect and defend its Member States and nothing less. Therefore NATO should not be ignored by the EU when CSDP is engaged.

Reasons for United States Possible Attack on Iran Essay

The topic on the possibility of United States launching a military attack against Iran has dominated much news for several years since the Bush administration and during which some quarters speculated that such an attack would be ordered before the administration left office. As early as 2005, a number of articles had started revealing the imminent plans by Pentagon to order military operations against Iran. While people and the media may speculate and give their opinions about many aspects of the imminent war, the most important issue to understand is the reasons which may spark the attack. It is therefore the objective of this paper to discuss the reasons why US would engage in a military land war with Iran. 2. 0 The Euro-Based Oil Bourse This is one of the major reasons which revolve around the plan by Tehran government in 2005 and 2006 to start competing with the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the largest physical commodity futures exchange in the world based in New York and the London based International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) by using the euro-dominated oil trading mechanism (Clark, 2004). The logic behind this is that by using this mechanism in international oil trades, the euro is going to take dominance and establish a firm ground which will serve to overshadow the strength of the U. S dollar in the global oil market. The U. S government therefore considers this a real threat by Tehran government which warrants intervention to protect the dollar from being toppled off from its long term monopoly in the critical international oil market. It is worth noting that lack of an oil pricing standard that is euro-dominated also referred to oil â€Å"marker† in the oil trading industry is one of the technical challenges facing the euro-based trading system in oil transactions. The oil markers currently in operation today are the U. S dollar dominated which include Norway Brent crude, West Texas Intermediate crude, and the UAE Dubai crude. In the spring of 2003, Iran laid down a requirement that all the transactions for its Asian and European oil exports be conducted using the euro currency though the pricing of oil was still predominantly controlled by the dollar. Following an official announcement in 2004 that Iran had intentions to develop an Iranian oil Bourse, it raised the concerns that a stiff competition would ensue between the Iranian oil bourse and the U. S owned NYME and the IPE (Clark, 2004). The macroeconomic implications of such a development would cause a shift in the international commerce in both Middle East and the European Union which is the largest importer of oil from OPEC producers. Consequently, the financial hegemony enjoyed by the IPE and NYMEX would be greatly challenged and thus the U. S is likely to avoid this through military action. 3. 0 The Ambitious Nuclear Program of Iran The Tehran’s nuclear ambition is another possible reason as to why the U. S may launch a land military attack on Iran. This has been seen from the latest series of sanctions on Iran by the Obama administration which mainly targets the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps which is the most powerful social, political and economic institution in Iran. The organization also has a large number of companies and banks and therefore makes it an appropriate target for these sanctions (LANDLER & COOPER, 2010). However, the critical thing to focus on with regard to this issue is whether these sanctions have the capacity to compel Iran to halt its nuclear program. If the history of political and economic sanctions against countries is anything to go by, then Iran may not change its course despite the sanctions and this may lead to war. The reason for the sanctions is to â€Å"contain† Tehran which depicts a link which leads from diplomatic pressure to military action (Nadal, 2010). Tehran views this threat as real considering that its two neighbors to the west and to the east have a large number of U. S troops. 4. 0 Conclusion A possible military action on Iran by the US cannot be overlooked since the reasons surrounding this possibility would also have major effects on the economy and the security of the US. Considering the economic problems facing the US, the attempts by Iran to establish the euro-based oil bourse may seem as an attempt to suppress the dollar in the international oil market. The nuclear program also would threaten the security not only of the US but also of the world if it is not either regulated or completely halted. To aver the nuclear weapons development, Washington ought to try and alter the perceptions of threat harbored by Iran against America. References Clark, W. (2004). The Real Reasons Why Iran is the Next Target: The Emerging Euro-denominated International Oil Marker. Retrieved August 20, 2010, from http://www. globalresearch. ca/articles/CLA410A. html LANDLER, M. , & COOPER, H. (2010). U. S. Eyes New Sanctions Over Iran Nuclear Program. Retrieved August 20, 2010, from http://www. nytimes. com/2010/02/10/world/middleeast/10sanctions. html? _r=1 Nadal, A. (2010). Sanctions against Iran and the Next War. Retrieved August 20, 2010, from http://www. campaigniran. org/casmii/index. php? q=node/10518

Project Completion Report Example

When a company undertakes a project, it uses financial resources for a specific purpose and project completion reports are created to clarify some matters that are related to the outcomes of a project. A typical project completion report example features a number of points such as general project information, findings, administrative project closure, and recommendations. All these points have a purpose to summarize the results of a project along with pointing out some important aspects that include performance, costs, and overall evaluation. A project completion report example provides insights about the most common structure and contents of this type of professional business paper. General Project Information InGen Corp., the research and development department, has allocated $1,2 million for the project in order to develop a music player that would be the most suitable for the target audience, active people who are involved in the professional sports. Planned start date is 01/05/2017 and the planned finish date is 05/05/2017. The project funds were allocated to the temporary project team created from the inside personnel of the research and development department. The original budget was not exceeded and the planned deadline was met timely. Findings Project outcomes can be considered positive as the work group was able to identify the preferences of the target audience, which provided the required information and allowed the work group to successfully develop the most suitable design for the upcoming release of a new music player for active people. Additionally, it was found out that new design allows the company to save up to 30% of material expenses on each separate item. In order to complement the new design with an appropriate technical specifics, the company requires shrinking the size of the memory holder by 20%. As for the costs of development, the work group was able to stay within the limits of the $1,2 million budget and save $275 thousand. Saving was achieved because most celebrities that took part in the survey did not demand any kind of dividends. Administrative Project Closure After the prototype players were created, the project team delivered the blueprints to the main production line and it is capable of producing the new product without any additional adjustments or expenses. CEO confirmed that the new product meets all the requirements set by the research and development department, which allows starting the production by the end of the third quarter of 2017. During the work process, the team experienced an issue as system malfunction almost led to the information leak. Additionally, while the final list of the survey participants was already created by the start of the project, not all of them arrived. Recommendations The main recommendation for the project is to improve the stability and security of the internal network because it is not isolated this can lead to the information theft. IT department should solve the issue as soon as possible. Additionally, communications department should verify the number of participants several times before sending the final list to the project teams.