The EU as a Diplomatic Actor in Recent Conflicts Essay

The EU as a Diplomatic Actor in Recent Conflicts - Essay Example When America appeared to disregard even a consensus on the matter, EU came out with a view that, 'the European Union does not support a war on Iraq without the backing of the United Nations' (Reuters, 2003). A team of weapon inspectors was on a 'fact finding mission in Iraq', but America appeared to eager to strike and was in no mood to wait for their report. On the other hand the European Union together with governments from other parts of the world wanted to have a firm proof for punishing Iraq. After the 9/11 attacks, US appeared desperate to take on the terror outfits. Iraq and Afghanistan were the first in the firing line. UK, an important partner of EU, having good relations with US as well, formed the backbone of support for US policies. The official stand of European Union on the other hand was to start off the attacks after debating the issue and seeking a sanction from UN. But the moot point is, to what extent the European diplomacy was in action. The Maastricht Treaty of 1 992 was instrumental in coming out with a common foreign and security policy (CFSP) for the European Union (Bruter, 1999). This implied that the 'Union' will have a unanimous opinion about an issue. But the factual position has been somewhat different. The CFSP appeared in some common declarations only and not on issues involving diplomatic rows. It is worthwhile here to mention that the European Union and CFSP appeared to provide a semblance of unanimity on paper, but on the surface, the interests of nations forming part of the union forces them to take different stand on a range of issues. Anderson (2001) lists out factors like, lack of participation or concern by the Member States; perceived competition between the Commission and the Member States; inconsistent Member State positions; and slowness as the reasons for the EU not being able to come out with effective and unanimous stands. The Iraq war happened to be one such issue on which the EU could not come out with a strong and unanimous view. The official statement from EU on Iraq is that1, "The EU is committed to working with Iraq and international partners in order to bring about a secure, stable, unified, democratic and prosperous Iraq." But the actual implementation of this commitment is yet to be seen. While on a visit to Greece after the war started in Iraq, the UN Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan also called upon the EU leaders to come out with a common stand on the issue of Iraq (Barringer and Bruni, 2003). Once the war on Iraq was declared by the US and allied forces, on the basis of 'concrete proof', it appeared irreversible. But as days went by, it was all too apparent that the 'proof' that were being used as an alibi for initiating the attacks were nowhere visible on the surface. Even the so-called 'weapons of mass-destructions' were nowhere to be seen. This resulted in protests in UK and USA against the excesses being committed in Iraq. Today, even after executing Saddam Husain and thousands of deaths the WMDs are still proving to be illusionary. On the other hand the war has become a trap for US and allied forces; now they are finding it difficult to come out of it. Realising the differences in opinions of world leaders in general, UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan said, "No issue has so divided the world since the end of the Cold

Company Profile- Ted Baker Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Company Profile- Ted Baker - Essay Example But through them it has continued the journey of its prosperity and advancement. The company has opened many outlets worldwide; also it has jumped into the online shopping market. The Ted Baker Company used high quality materials and techniques in their production. It is one of the chief reasons of its prosperity (Ellen, 2007, p. 281). In this study we will discuss deeply the company profile of the Ted Baker Company. The history of the company, its products details, marketing and advertisement strategies, recent development, competitors and customers will be the main topics of discussion. In this way we will be able to understand the growth and the impact of the market values on the development of the company. It is important to note that the Ted Baker Company has only completed two decades since its appearance in the market. The founder of the Ted Baker Company is the passionate and the capable business man Ray Kelvin. Kelvin belonged to the long line of fashion retailers. In his childhood he worked in the garment shop of his uncle and after that he developed the idea of a long chain fashion store in his peak years. The aspect which greatly contributed towards the success of his idea and the acceptance of the company among the customers is the fine taste of Ray Kelvin. He had the ability to capture the needs and tastes of the buyers. He was also awarded a CBE for his extraordinary services to the industry of fashion and clothing. He used his greater sense of marketing techniques to capture the attention of the customers. The journey of the Ted Baker Company started in the year 1988 when the company opened its first store at the Glasgow. The progress was then followed by the opening of three more stores. The places were Nottingham Exchange Arcade, Manchester and King Street. The promotional strategy was that they offered dry cleaning services with every shirt they sold. At that time the chief product was men’s dress shirt (Ellen, 2007,