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Can India be firm with China on Brahmaputra dams?
La importancia de la cuestión es muy grande, el problema de los ríos compartidos con China se ha planteado en el Parlamento de India varias veces, los pueblos y gobiernos de varios Estados, incluyendo Assam y Arunachal Pradesh han sido agitados por el tema. La Comisión de Planificación, y los Ministerios de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Hídricos y Energía, también han estado planteando estas preocupaciones.
¿Podrá India ponerse firme con China en el tema de las represas del Brahmaputra?
Los primeros ministros de India y China tienen una oportunidad histórica sin precedentes para crear un mecanismo para compartir ríos internacionales. No sólo ayudaría a los dos países, tendría el potencial de sentar precedente y crear un notable ejemplo para el resto del mundo, dice Himashu Thakkar.
La visita del premier chino, Web Jiabao a la India, los días 15 y 16 de diciembre de 2010, ofrece otra buena oportunidad para que la India sea firme y directa con China en el asunto de los proyectos de represas e hidroeléctricas en los ríos compartidos, incluyendo la cuenca del Brahmaputra.
La importancia de esta cuestión es evidente teniendo en cuenta que el problema se ha planteado en el Parlamento de India varias veces, incluso el primer ministro ha tenido que hacer aclaraciones en el pasado reciente, los pueblos y gobiernos de varios Estados, incluyendo Assam y Arunachal Pradesh han sido agitados por el tema. La Comisión de Planificación, y los Ministerios de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Hídricos y Energía, también han estado planteando estas preocupaciones.
Por desgracia, la India ha sido menos que firme y menos que directa con China sobre estas cuestiones en el pasado. El gobierno indio ha informado al Parlamento, que China no ha revelado las causas de las inundaciones en el Estado de Himachal Pradesh, en agosto de 2000 y, en el Estado de Arunachal Pradesh, en junio de 2000, cuando en ambos casos, las inundaciones se originaron en China.
China inició la construcción del proyecto hidroeléctrico Zangmu, de 510 MW, en el río Tshangpo Yarlung (al igual que el río Siang, uno de los principales tributarios del Brahmaputra) el 12 de noviembre de 2010. El gobierno de la India reaccionó, sólo después de que los medios de comunicación indios recogieron la noticia de los informes de los medios de comunicación internacionales.
Es preocupante que el informe de la agencia de noticias Xinhua de China, dijera que el proyecto de 1,200 millones dólares ", también se puede utilizar para controlar las inundaciones y el riego". Para que un proyecto sea útil para el control de riego y las inundaciones, necesita almacenar y desviar el agua. Pero incluso sin estas características, la represa de Zangmu y los numerosos proyectos de energía hidroeléctrica en los planes de China, tendrá impactos adversos aguas abajo.
El portavoz de la cancillería china, Hong Lei aclaró a la prensa que China tomó plena consideración del impacto potencial en la región aguas abajo".
Pero, debe tenerse en cuenta que esta aclaración realmente no dice nada del impacto o las consideraciones que se han tomado. El gobierno de la India se quejará por esto? El problema es que cuando el gobierno de la India responde a los países aguas abajo, de los impactos de la represas que construye o cuando responde a su propio pueblo, la respuesta es escapista y ambigua, tan escapista y ambigua como la respuesta China, incluso casi insultante tanto en el lenguaje como en la forma.
Para ilustrar esto, cuando un ministro de la Unión respondió a las interrogantes del Parlamento, sobre el impacto de los proyectos de la hidroeléctrica de Arunachal Pradesh aguas abajo, en Assam, la respuesta fue: "No hay información específica disponible sobre amenazas a la identidad actual de los pueblos indígenas de Assam por mega represas proyectadas en el noreste".
Como cuestión de hecho, los gobiernos de Arunachal y Assam en la India, a menudo han justificado la licencia rápida para la construcción de grandes represas en el noreste, diciendo que puede establecer el derecho ser el primer usuario. El problema es, en primer lugar no existe ninguna ley internacional o mecanismo que pueda defender tal derecho contra las acciones de los países aguas arriba. Tal defensa sería posible si existe un tratado sobre el reparto de los ríos comunes, como el Tratado del Indo que la India tiene con Pakistán.
Pero NO existe tal tratado entre la India y China en cualquiera de los ríos que comparten los dos países. Y la India no ha utilizado su sustancial influencia para impulsar un tratado ( tengamos en cuenta que la delegación que acompaña al primer ministro chino incluye 400 empresarios y hace 5 años, Wen también regresó de la India después de un exitoso viaje de negocios, sin ningún acuerdo al respecto).
La única convención internacional en este sentido, la Convención de las Naciones Unidas sobre los usos de los cursos de agua internacionales no navegables, fue aprobado en 1997 por una votación de 104-3. Curiosamente, China fue uno de los tres únicos países que votaron en contra de la convención. La India no hizo ningún gran favor a dicha convención al abstenerse de votar.
La convención, en cualquier caso, aún no es vinculante, ya que aún no lo hayan ratificado el número suficiente de países. Pero incluso si se ratificara, como lo señala un informe de grupo de trabajo del Instituto de Estudios y Análisis de Defensa de India, tales leyes son "difíciles de aplicar y, a menudo contradictorias".
No existe ningún tribunal internacional eficaz para la resolución de dicho conflicto. Lamentablemente, el informe IDSA termina con una propuesta bastante problemática, "Como contramedida para el plan de China para el desvío del Yarlung-Tsangpo (Brahmaputra), la India debería proponer el proyecto energético South Asian-China-ADB del Banco Asiático de Desarrollo con el apoyo internacional del Great Bend. "
Tal sugerencia sería muy contraproducente ya que justificaría el peor temor de las propuestas de China de construir un proyecto de 38.000 MW de energía hidroeléctrica en el Brahmaputra y desviar luego la parte norte en una segunda fase. De hecho, China tiene múltiples proyectos alineados en Tsangpo.
Lo qué está pasando en la cuenca del Mekong es una buena guía del futuro esperable. Existe una Comisión Internacional del Mekong incluyendo países como Tailandia, Laos, Camboya y Vietnam, y la comisión está respaldada por el poderoso Japón y el Banco Asiático de Desarrollo.
Pero China, que no forma parte de la Comisión Internacional del Mekong, ha construido proyectos hidroeléctricos que están afectando negativamente a los proyectos existentes aguas abajo, pero los países afectados no pueden hacer nada acerca de los proyectos chinos. Esto destruye por completo el argumento del primer derecho de uso de los partidarios de las represas en Arunachal Pradesh, incluyendo al ministro de Medio Ambiente Jairam Armes.
Dicho esto, también tenemos que mirar el historial de los gobiernos de la India en este sentido. Cuando se trata de compartir siquiera información básica sobre los planes del gobierno en el noreste, el ministerio de los recursos hídricos se niega a proporcionar información básica a la población.
El ministerio se negó a proporcionar dicha información a la Red de Represas, Ríos y Personas del Sudeste Asiático (South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People – SANDRP), a pesar de haber suscrito el Acta del Derecho a la Información. En última instancia SANDRP tuvo que apelar a la Comisión Central de Información y el ministerio tuvo que proporcionar información básica a instancias del CIC. Pero esto y la respuesta al Parlamento del ministro, evidencia lo hermético y encallecido de gobierno de la India en estas cuestiones. India necesita fundamentalmente cambiar la manera de abordar las cuestiones relacionadas con los ríos y presas. El gobierno de la India debe mejorar su propia credibilidad a través de un trato interno de respuestas más transparentes, y medioambientalmente amigables con los ríos y la gente.
Esto también es muy importante y urgente, ya que los ríos que China y la India comparten, son alimentados por los glaciares, la mayoría de los cuales se encuentran en el Tíbet. Nuestra base de conocimiento de las interacciones en esos ecosistemas es muy pobre y una mejor cooperación también es útil para la India en el contexto del cambio climático. Esto ha sido subrayado con acierto por Jairam Ramesh.
La mejor manera de seguir adelante para la India, China, Bangladesh (un país situado aguas abajo a lo largo del Brahmaputra) e incluso el resto del mundo, sería seguir un mecanismo multilateral para compartir no sólo el agua de los ríos que la India y China comparten, sino también las montañas, los glaciares, los bosques, la biodiversidad y la vida y las culturas asociadas que también comparten. El Informe de la Comisión Mundial de Represas proporciona un punto de partida muy útil para este modelo.
Los primeros ministros de India y China tienen una oportunidad histórica sin precedentes para crear un mecanismo que delinee como compartir los ríos internacionales.
No sólo ayudará a los dos países y a sus generaciones por venir, tendría el potencial de crear un notable ejemplo para el resto del mundo.
El Brahmaputra, es el 5° río más grande del mundo en términos de caudal y el 2° más grande del mundo en términos de los sedimentos que transporta, y sigue siendo relativamente poco perturbado, proporcionando una plataforma ideal para una regulación internacional.
¿Podrá el gobierno de la India mostrar la firmeza, franqueza y la previsión que demanda el cuidado del Brahmaputra, ante el primer ministro chino? Sólo se puede fortalecer la posición de gobierno de la India para hacer frente a su vecino más grande, haciendo firmes planteamientos.
Himanshu Thakkar es coordinador de South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People.
Can India be firm with China on Brahmaputra dams?
The Indian and Chinese premiers have an unprecedented historical opportunity to create such a mechanism for sharing international rivers. It will not only help the two countries but it has the potential to create a remarkable example for the rest of the world, says Himashu Thakkar.
Chinese Premier Web Jiabao's forthcoming India [ Images ] visit (December 15-16) provides another useful opportunity for India to be firm and forthright with China on India's concerns about Chinese dam and hydropower projects on the shared rivers, including in the Brahmaputra basin.
The importance of this issue cannot be underscored considering that this issue has been raised in the Parliament several times, even the prime minister has had to make clarifications in the recent past, the people and governments of several states, including Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have been agitated about this. India's Planning Commission, environment, water resources and power ministries have also been raising these concerns.
Unfortunately, India has been less than firm and forthright with China on these issues in the past. The Indian government has informed Parliament in the past that China has not disclosed the reasons for floods in Himachal Pradesh [ Images ] in August 2000 and in Arunachal Pradesh in June 2000, when the floods in both cases originated from China.
China started the construction of the 510 MW Zangmu Hydropower project on the Yarlung Tshangpo (as Siang, the main tributary of Brahmaputra is known in Tibet [ Images ]) on November 12. India reacted to that only after the Indian media picked up the news from international media reports.
Worryingly, the report from the China's news agency Xinhua said the $1.2 billion project "can also be used for flood control and irrigation". For a project to be useful for irrigation and flood control it needs to store and divert water. But even without these features the Zangmu and the numerous other hydropower projects that China plans will have adverse downstream impacts.
The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei did clarify to the media that China took "full consideration of the potential impact on the downstream area."
But note that this clarification really says nothing either about the impact or what consideration they have given to them. Should Indian government complain about this? The trouble is, when Indian government responds to downstream countries about the dams it builds or when it responds to its own people, Indian government response is almost in same ambiguous, escapist and almost insulting language and manner.
To illustrate, when an Union minister responded to a question in Parliament about impact of Arunachal Pradesh hydro projects on downstream Assam, the answer was, "No specific information is available regarding threats to existing identity of indigenous people of Assam by mega dams proposed in the north-east".
As a matter of fact, Indian, Arunachal and Assam governments have often justified the expeditious clearance and building of big dams in the north-east, saying that it will establish first user right. The trouble is, firstly there is no international law or mechanism where such a right can be defended against actions of upstream countries. Such a defence would be possible if there was a treaty on sharing the common rivers, like the Indus Treaty that India has with Pakistan.
But no such treaty exists between India and China on any of the rivers that the two countries share. And India has not used its substantial leverage (The delegation accompanying the Chinese premier includes 400 business people and five years back too Wen went back from India after a successful business trip) to push any such treaty.
The only international convention in this regard, the UN Convention on Non navigational uses of international watercourses was approved in 1997 by a vote of 104-3. Interestingly, China was one of the only three nations that voted against the convention. India did not do it a great favour by abstaining from voting.
The convention in any case it yet to come to force since sufficient number of countries are yet to ratify it. But even when it gets ratified, as noted by a task force report (external link) from India's defence think tank Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, such laws are "difficult to implement and often contradictory".
No effective international court exists for such conflict resolution. Unfortunately, the IDSA report ends up with a rather problematic suggestion, "As a counter-measure to China's plan for the diversion of the Yarlung-Tsangpo, India should propose a south Asian-China-ADB power project with international support on the Great Bend."
Such a suggestion would be seriously counter productive since it will justify the worst feared of the proposals China has of building a 38,000 MW hydropower project on Brahmaputra and diverting it to the northern part in phase two. In fact, China has multiple projects lined up on Tsangpo.
China's track record, however, is far from encouraging in this regard. What is going on in the Mekong basin is a good guide. There exists an international Mekong Commission including countries like the Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, and the commission is backed by powerful Japan [ Images ] and the Asian Development Bank [ Get Quote ].
But China, which is not part of the commission, has been building hydropower projects which are affecting the downstream existing projects adversely, but the downstream countries could do nothing about the Chinese projects. This completely demolishes the first user principle argument that supporters of dams in Arunachal Pradesh, including environment minister Jairam Ramesh [ Images ] are using to push such projects.
That said, we also need to look at the track record of Indian governments in this regard. When it comes to sharing even basic information about the plans of the government in the north-east, the water resources ministry refuses to provide basic information to the people.
The ministry refused to provide such information to South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People (external link) even under the Right to Information Act. Ultimately SANDRP had to file appeals to the Central Information Commission and the ministry had to provide basic information under the CIC orders (external link). But this and the earlier quoted answer in Parliament from the minister show how callously Indian government deals with these issues. India needs to fundamentally change its ways of dealing with the issues related to rivers and dams. Indian government needs to improve its own credibility through more responsive, transparent and environment friendly treatment of rivers and people.
This is also urgently important since the rivers that India shares with China are fed by glaciers, most of which are located inside Tibet. Our knowledge base of these lifelines is very poor and better cooperation is also useful for India in the context of climate change. This has been rightly emphasised by Jairam Ramesh.
The best way to go forward for India, China, Bangladesh (a downstream country along the Brahmaputra) and even the rest of the world would be to follow a multilateral mechanism to share not just the water of the rivers that India and China share, but also the mountains, the glaciers, the forests, the biodiversity and the associated lives and cultures that also get shared. The Report of the World Commission on Dams provides a very useful starting point for such a model.
The Indian and Chinese premiers have an unprecedented historical opportunity to create such a mechanism on these lines for sharing the international rivers.
It will not only help the two countries for generations to come, but it has the potential to create a remarkable example for the rest of the world.
The Brahmaputra, the fifth largest river in terms of water it carries and second largest in terms of the silt it carries, remains relatively less disturbed among the rivers of the world and provides ideal platform for this. Will the Indian government show the firmness, forthrightness and foresight to propose this to the visiting Chinese Premier? It can only strengthen Indian government hand in dealing with its bigger neighbour. It will also give huge strength to the fragile bilateral relations that the Chinese ambassador to India referred to on December 13 in Delhi [ Images ].
Himanshu Thakkar is convenor of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People
In October 2003, I wrote an article Diverting the Brahmaputra: a Declaration of War for Rediff.com. At the time, I was told that it was a cheap journalistic gimmick; there was no 'scientific' proof!
My question then was: "What is the rationale for the project?"
I had explained: "Two of the most acute problems China faces today are food and water. These two issues are closely linked and, if not solved, are bound to have grave social and political consequences for the country" and added: "The new emperors are not sure where the solution lies or even if there is a solution."
Seven years later, these problems are more acute than ever. Since then, another issue has cropped up: fast-track development of the Tibetan plateau (also known as The Third Pole by environmentalists). The new activities, mainly large-scale tourism, are energy-hungry. More power is required to maintain the increasing flow of mainland visitors (over millions tourists visited the Tibetan capital in 2009).
The basic quandary however remains the same, with water becoming a rare commodity in China and agriculture needing more water to sustain its growth.
This led Chinese experts to look around for water. The answer was not far: four of the world's ten major rivers, the Brahmaputra (or Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet), the Yangtze, the Mekong and the Huang Ho (or Yellow River) have their headwaters on the Tibetan plateau. The other major rivers which originate in Tibet are the Salween, the Irrawaddy, the Arun, the Karnali, the Sutlej and the Indus. About 90% of their runoff flows downstream to China, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Thus the idea to use Tibet's waters for Northern China was born.
One of the possibilities was to divert waters from the Great Bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo, north of the McMahon Line by building a mega structure. There are different versions of the project, but the Shuotian Canal is the most elaborated. It is the brainchild of an engineer, Guo Kai whose life mission is to save China with Tibet's waters. He has calculated that if waters from the Salween, the Mekong, the Yangtse, the Yalong and the Dadu (last two are Yangtse's tributaries) were diverted and directed to the Ngawa Prefecture of Qinghai (Amdo) Province, the problem for the recurrent water shortage in north and northwest China could be solved (today, the Yellow River is dry more than 250 days in a year).
Guo not only worked closely with experts from the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources and the Academy of Sciences (CAS), but also made several on-the-spot investigations and surveys, before coming up with the details of his pharaonic scheme.
According to him, the 'Great Western Route' diversion could solve the water shortage in north China, bring drinkable water to Tanjing and even counter the desertification facing the northern and northwestern provinces. It is why it is considered so vital to the Middle Kingdom's strategic security.
The name Shuotian comes from the contraction of 'Shuomatan' the origin of the canal (near the Great Bend of the Brahmaputra) and the city of Tanjing at the fag end.
In November 2006, as President Hu Jintao was leaving India after a State visit, the Chinese Minister for Water Resources, Wang Shucheng, categorically stated that the proposal was "unnecessary, unfeasible and unscientific." He added that it had no government backing: "There is no need for such dramatic and unscientific projects." He however admitted: "There may be some retired officials that support the plan, but they're not the experts advising the government." It was not a point blank denial as he admitted that the project existed. As we know, governments change, so do their advisors.
Recent developments
The proposed diversion/damming has come back in the news with the construction of a series of dams on the Yarlung Tsangpo upstream to the Great Bend. According to available information, the Chinese plan to build a series of five dams in the Shannan Prefecture (Lhoka) of Tibet at Zangmu, Gyatsa, Zhongda, Jiexu and Langzhen.
The contract has been awarded to a consortium of five companies under the leadership of Gezhouba, one of China's biggest dam-building companies (also involved in the massive $1.5 billion river diversion and hydro-electricity project on Neelum-Jhelum in POK).
For more than a year, satellite imagery as well photos of the project were available on the Net, even though the construction was denied by the Chinese government. The Government of India knew of the project but was unwilling to forcefully tackle Beijing and ask for factual explanations.
However recently during the question hour in Rajya Sabha, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna informed the Members that during his visit to China, Beijing had finally admitted to the existence of the dam: "It is a fact that when we met in Beijing, the question of the power station did come up. The Chinese foreign minister assured me that there would be no water storage at the dam and it would not in any way impact on downstream areas."
New Delhi sighed and Krishna and his team came back to India reassured.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao was so happy; there would be no diversion: "This would not be a project that would divert water… It is not a storage dam for irrigation purposes", she said.
The latest developments and the Indian Government's declaration raise several points:
1- At this stage it is difficult to link the string of five dams to the larger project of diverting the waters of the Yarlung Tsangpo/Brahmaputra to Northern China. The five dams, including the Zangmu dam located upstream of the proposed diversion project — Shuomatan or Great Bend — is said to be a run-of-river project only.
2- The rationale to divert the waters of the Yarlung Tsangpo is more compelling as ever. Many believe that it is only a question of time and one day China will have to go for it in order to survive. It is as serious as this.
4- The Yarlung Tsangpo's gorge is a highly seismic zone. Most geologists agree that the area is prone to earthquakes. The South China Morning Post quoted Yang Yong, a Chinese geologist saying: "Huge mountains suddenly surged from a piece of flat land, forming two almost vertical walls to the horizon," adding the canyon "is fresh evidence of violent geological movement. I cannot imagine a more dangerous spot to build dams."
5- India and China have no water-sharing agreements. A meeting of experts from India and China took place between April 26 and 29 in Delhi to discuss the issue of sharing information on the Brahmaputra and the Sutlej. Hopefully the outcome will be made public. Indian and Chinese water experts were to ink an 'implementation plan' to share hydrological data on the Sutlej and Brahmaputra rivers. Though the mechanism was mentioned in the Sino-Indian Joint Statements issued after the visits of Premier Wen Jiabao (2005) and President Hu Jinatao (2006) to India, the Chinese authorities had refused to share data because there was no 'implementation plan' to support decisions taken at the highest level.
6- Regarding the data of the Himalayan rivers, there is a major problem. The Indian babus are even more jealous of 'their' data than their Chinese counterparts. Those who have tried to get scientific information on the flow of the Brahmaputra and other rivers have had a nightmarish experience. 'National security' is the babus' mantra (this includes the Army babus).
One wonders sometimes is these babus are really interested in 'national security'. Many believe that they are unconsciously playing into the hands of forces adverse to India. Because where are the 'national interests' in this case? How does it help to hide hard facts about the happenings on the Yarlung Tsangpo?
7- China has never consulted lower riparian states before undertaking dam constructions upstream, though it is considered as a trans-border water issue. As IDSA scholar, P. Stobdan puts it: "No downstream country has any legal arrangements or provisions of international law to deal with China's river manipulation. China has refused to join the Mekong River Commission, and has also not ratified the UN convention on Non-Navigable Use of International Watercourses (1997)". This is an issue on which Delhi could insist when Indian officials meet their Chinese counterparts. Data should be shared and transparent information on the projects undertaken on the Tibetan plateau should be given to the lower riparian States (though Bangladesh is so obsessed with India 'stealing' its waters that it does not realize that the Brahmaputra is flowing from China).
Pressure should also put on China to respect international regulations.
8- In China, there is a strong lobby advocating large dams (in India as well). An excellent paper Mountains of Concrete: Dams Building in the Himalayas published by an NGO International Rivers — People, Water, Life explains: "One of the biggest changes to occur in big dams in the past 20 years is the rise of Chinese dam builders and financiers. China's dam industry has gone global, building hundreds of dams throughout Africa and Southeast Asia, but also Central Asia, South America, and the Himalayas. …Chinese dam builders have taken their business to nearby countries such as Burma, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Second, China's domestic dam industry is now arguably the most prolific in the world, with technical skills on par with those of industrialized nations. While the playing field is becoming crowded within China, there is huge external demand for the technology, capacity, and financial backing that Chinese dam building companies can bring, particularly in countries like Pakistan and Nepal, where there are few domestic resources and leaders are eager to exploit rich hydropower resources or boost irrigation capacity."
This lobby is very influential and advocates the diversion project (as the Chinese Minister for Water Resources stated, many PLA generals are also involved in the dam business). One should also not forget that several major Chinese banks have an interest in the mega-projects. Since the completion of the Three Gorges dam, this lobby has not been able to undertake 'big' projects.
When Beijing says that the Zangmu damming on the Brahmaputra will have no consequences for India, Indian 'experts' therefore readily agree. There was recently a talk at a reputed Indian think-tank in Delhi with the main Indian 'expert' arguing that even if the Brahmaputra is diverted, it will only be a mere 30% of its waters which will be lost to India and Bangladesh, with no consequence for these countries. This is frightening and unscientific. Is it not the duty of 'experts', scientists, strategists to study and analyze all possibilities, even if some are more remote?
10- One can understand what is going to happen to India and Bangladesh (whether it is a diversion or simply a string of dams) when one looks at the fate of the Mekong. The 4,350 km river has its source on the Tibetan Plateau. It flows downstream to the Yunnan province of China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Chinese experts assert that Tibet contributes only 20 % to the Mekong's waters, and the remaining 80 % is fed from water sources in downstream countries. During recent months, a severe draught has been experienced in Yunnan province of China and the Indochinese peninsula.
Though some environment scientists claim that the lack of rainfall alone is responsible for the low level of the river, a group of affected countries — Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam— met in Thailand to discuss this hot issue.
When Panitan Wattanayagorn, a Thai government spokesman asked Beijing for 'more information, more cooperation and more coordination', China immediately denied any wrong doing.
Environmental NGOs in the peninsula however blame China for 'drying' the Mekong and provoking the crisis. China, a dialogue partner of the Commission took the 'attack' seriously and sent a delegation led by Vice-Foreign Minister Song Tao to the two-day conference in Thailand. Liu Ning, the Chinese Vice Minister of Water Resources argued that the dams and irrigation projects upstream have actually helped stave off some of the effects of drought. Facts speak otherwise.
It is a fact that large dams have an influence on the ecology of the bioregion, whether it is admitted by the dam builders or not.
11- Interestingly, the Pakistanis are laughing at South Block wishy-washiness. In October 2009, a discussion took place on the dams on http://forum.pakistanidefence.com.
Here is an extract:
Commenting on what External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said in response to a media report stating that India will be checking "to ascertain whether there are recent developments that suggest any change in the position conveyed to us by the government of China", a commentator said: "Checking, still checking… You can't help but laugh!"
12- It is not that the Chinese are unable to bend and listen. In May 2009 Premier Wen Jiabao, himself an engineer by training, suspended the construction of a planned cascade of 13 dams on the Nu River (Salween in Burma). Already in 2004 Wen had blocked an earlier version of the cascade and asked for a serious review of the environmental impact to be carried out. Wen's decision has been seen as the response to international and local pressure over the environmental effects of such a structure in an eco-sensitive region. And let us not forget that Tibet's environment is even more sensitive.
13- Last but not the least, there is a strong lobby in India which wants to build dams in Arunachal Pradesh. Ask any Arunachali minister, he will tell you: "We are the richest Indian State, we will soon 'sell' 50,000 MW of electricity to India". The Assam Tribune recently reported: "Speaking to the media in North Lakhimpur after participating in a public function on 10th April, [Arunachal Home Minister] Tako Dabi said international circles that did not want India to become energy efficient by tapping its natural resources had been behind such popular movements that were voicing opposition to the construction of mega dams like the one in Gerukamukh and Dibang valley." This shows another aspect of the issue, more difficult to handle by a weak Center.
One can only conclude that India is facing a complex and extremely serious problem; only by firm diplomacy and proper information of the public, does India have a chance to force Beijing to change its plans, avoiding thus a regrettable fait accompli.


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7 Palissy Ware or Majolica butter or oyster dishes, modeled as crabs on half shells, each atop three ball feet, with impressed shield mark to underside and impressed numbers 3818. 4 1/4″ L. Probably French, late 19th to early 20th century. Provenance: a Brentwood, TN estate. CONDITION: Overall good condition; a few scattered rim chips, largest 1/2″.

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About El Warriors
What we do
Welcome to El Warriors fitness and boot camp gym. We are situated in Wentworth, Ely on the outskirts of Cambridge.
The gym is owned and ran by professional boxer and athlete Tyler Goodjohn. El Warriors boot camp was established early 2018 after Tyler wanted to shake up how boot camps are done and offer something different. This resulted in a large barn conversion, a lot of astroturf and specialist equipment needed to create the best boot camp in the country.
Boot camp classes run from Monday to Sunday throughout the day and in the evening giving you plenty of choices on which classes to attend.
Personal training sessions are also very popular at El Warriors, ideal for someone who is looking to have complete focus on their fitness. Or perfect for someone who doesn't like training in a group.
One to one boxing classes are also very popular. Tylers professional boxing skills make him a popular choice for people who want to learn boxing or simply get fit.
If you are new to fitness or just curious then why not contact us and we can discuss your specific requirements. Or if you like, attend a boot camp and see if you like it. Your first session is FREE.
El Warriors.
Bootcamp circuit training
Personal Training
people say
about us
El warriors is a brilliant boot camp with top of the range equipment and highly experienced trainer. It's such a great set up with a huge variety of exercises. I can't recommend it enough.
Martin Gipp/Soham Martin Gipp
6 Weeks into bootcamp. 3 Inches of Fat down! Higher energy levels. Better nutrition. Insane fitness levels compared to the start!Knowledgeable & supportive coach. Wouldn't go anywhere else!
Sophie Davison – Ely, Cambs
Did I join El Warriors to become a bare-knuckle boxer? Absolutely not! Did I join to get the fitness bug and get up regularly at 5 am wearing a smile? You bet! It has been a total LIFE CHANGER.
Cheryl de Val
The mental health benefit I get from Tyler's amazing bootcamp is as beneficial as they physical benefit, and the physical benefit is absolutely outstanding
Nicola Hill
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Where to find more information about Louis Vuitton products?
The Louis Vuitton website presents the entire collection of handbags, travel bags, small leather goods, accessories, shoes, ready-to-wear, watches, fine jewellery, pens and books. To discover the complete Louis Vuitton offer, click on the WOMEN or MEN tab on www.louisvuitton.com.
Should you require further information on any of our products, please contact Client Service on +44 20 7998 6286 where one of dedicated Service Advisors will be happy to assist you.
Other questions:
How to contact Louis Vuitton?
Where to buy a Louis Vuitton product?
Where are Louis Vuitton products manufactured?
Discovery Bumbag £1,490.00
Horizon Sandals £830.00
Pochette Métis £1,670.00
Sun Song £200.00


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Posts tagged Heather
Pumpkin, Pingu and Bramble0
A couple of weeks ago Charles and I added a few more members to our family – three more baby rats! We originally wanted two more to live with Mabel and Heather, as the intro between them and Miggley just wasn't working, but when we found out that the breeder we use had three females left, we decided to get them all.
The three new girls are called Pumpkin, Pingu and Bramble, and they're currently ten weeks old, and incredibly cute! Here they all are…
Pumpkin is an Agouti Berkshire and is a little feisty thing. She's very confident and keeps play fighting with Mabel, which is always fun to watch.
Pingu (so-called because she's black with a white belly!) is my little shy girl. She's smaller than the other two, and quite timid, but she's so loving. She reminds me a lot of Mog in her demeanour and appearance.
Bramble is an Agouti Hooded Dumbo – my first ever dumbo rat! Just look at those gorgeous ears. She's feisty like Pumpkin, and also likes picking play fights with her big sisters.
The three new girls have the same dad as Mabel and Heather, which I think made the introduction process a lot easier. After a week of quarantine we let all the girls meet each other on neutral territory, and they got on straight away. Nobody showed any signs of aggression, and after two intros they were ready to live together!
Charles and I also invested in a Savic Royale Suite cage, which is a top-of-the-range piece of kit. It can fit about twelve rats, but we're sticking to five for now, so they're very lucky in terms of space! The five rats have now been living together since Monday, and we've had no trouble. In fact, they're all like best of friends! Every morning I find them squished into one bed together asleep – so cute!
Naomi x
Introducing Heather and Mabel0
A couple of weeks ago I had to say goodbye to my beautiful heart rat Mog. She'd been suffering with a pituitary tumour for a little while, and though we tried every treatment available, it unfortunately got too much for her and she had to be put to sleep. I was absolutely heartbroken and I still miss her like mad, as does her sister Miggley, who was left alone.
Rats are very sociable animals and aren't supposed to live singly, which left us with no choice but to get her some cagemates! After contacting many breeders all over the Midlands, I eventually managed to find two young females from Destiny Rats. After a week of waiting, last weekend we finally got to collect our new babies, and here they are…
Heather is a Russian Blue Berkshire, and Mabel is a Buff Berkshire, and they are both now nine weeks old, and so, so soft and cute! As they were handled from a very young age by the breeder and her family, they are both incredibly friendly and loving, and we get mobbed every time we go up to their cage.
We have only just started the introduction process with the two girls and Miggley, so they haven't met properly yet, but they are very curious about each other from afar. They will gradually be introduced over the next couple of weeks, and eventually they will all be living together in one big cage. Hopefully they'll all get along fine!
I plan on blogging about how the introduction goes, so check back soon for an update.
Naomi x
P.S. Miggley says "kmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm8ppppppppppppo[pyu"
Clarks Liberty Chorus Voice Shoes23
I know I'm not alone when it comes to loving shoes, especially new shoes, so I was a little bit excited when I received a pair of shoes from the Clarks Liberty Chorus Voice range to review! Chorus Voice are part of Clarks' SS13 line featuring luxe Liberty Art Fabric linings, and they are a fine example of a beautiful court shoe.
The first thing that grabbed my attention when I took the shoes out of the box was how they felt. The uppers are made from lovely soft suede which feels so luxurious to the touch, and the quality of the suede is obviously very high. I also really like the colour of the suede, which Clarks call Heather – a nude grey with an undertone of lilac which is quite unusual. As my regular readers will know, purple is my favourite colour and a lot of my clothes are purple, so these beauties are a perfect match for my usual colour palette.
The Liberty Art Fabric lining is full of pattern and colour, predominantly purple and lilac, which contrasts with but also compliments the neutral suede. The lining adds a finishing touch to these shoes that makes them so unique and majestic, and they look just as good off as they do on.
It's not just good looks that these Chorus Voice shoes have, they're impressively comfortable too. I'd even go as far to say these are the most comfortable pair of heels that I own. As is common with heels, the balls of my feet usually end up very sore after a short period of wear, but I haven't experienced that with these at all. In fact, I always forget I'm wearing heels when I have them on. The shoes are lined with Clarks Plus insoles and have 'dual density cushioning' which is incredibly soft, and they almost mold to your feet as you walk, making them very easy to wear. I find that the lining doesn't rub either, even when new, so I didn't suffer any pain when breaking then in. What also helps is the sizing. Clarks' shoes come in a wide range of half-sizes and different widths, so you can almost guarantee you'll get a pair that fits well, which is great for me as I myself take a half-size!
Being 5'10" I'm not a fan of ridiculously high heels, so these are the ideal height for me. They come in at around 2.5 inches with a slight concealed platform in the front, which is just enough height for a look of sophistication, which is accentuated further by their elegant shape. The front of the shoes are extremely feminine, featuring a sweetheart topline which I think looks so lovely, and a classic rounded toe which I find far more flattering than a square or pointed toe.
Clarks' Liberty Voice shoes go with anything too. I've been wearing mine during the day with skinny jeans to dress up a casual outfit, which works really well, but they also look great teamed with smart clothing for the office. They could even be carried through to the evening with a cute dress and a clutch, but whatever you choose, they're definitely versatile and a wardrobe staple.
Clarks' range of Chorus Voice shoes are available online and in store, and the Liberty shoes are also available in a stunning bright orange shade, which you can view here. They cost just £49.99 a pair, which is amazingly affordable for such a high quality shoe. I was expecting them to be a lot more, so if you're tempted to get a pair then don't hesitate – you won't be disappointed.
Naomi x
*These Clarks Liberty Chorus Voice Shoes were sent to me for review purposes. All opinions expressed are honest and my own.*


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The Armenian Government wants to establish a biospheric area on the basis on Sevan National Park, as 'Reform and Development Concept Paper for Sevan National Park' governmental draft protocol resolution says, which has been put in circulation.
'The establishment of a biospheric area on the basis of Sevan National Park may increase the awareness of the local population, citizens and state bodies of environment and development and can support fundraising from different sources,' the concept paper says. If the project is approved, it will be the second biospheric area after Zangezour Biospheric Complex.
The concept paper particularly lays down:
- Development of urban development projects for park areas,
- Development of renewable energy in the park area, organisation of production (solar energy, affordable biofuel, wind energy, geothermal energy etc),
- Introduction of waste management system,
- Construction of a close aquapark complex and open water worlds,
- Organization of relevant rest forms in line with up-to-date tourism requirements – recreational fishing and underground hunting etc.
- Production of ecologically clean wild plant species in the park area such as mushrooms, edible plants, tea species and essential oils,
- Organization of winter sport – skiing, amateur biathlon competition. Establishing relevant infrastructures for the development of sports tourism such as sports bases, skating rinks, skiing slopes, ropeways etc.
- Construction of a new building in the area adjacent to the littoral area of Sevan Town, in line with contemporary urban development standards and with distinguished architectural style.
It's planned to introduce a system of environmental fees for the water resources used by Sevan-Hrazdan Cascade HPPs, as well as to set an environmental fee for the water usage by SHPPs constructed on the rivers flowing into Lake Sevan and to direct these funds generated from hydropower to the preservation of Lake Sevan and Arpa-Sevan tunnel. The environmental fees generated as a result of using the natural resources of Sevan National Park will also be directed to the preservation of Lake Sevan ecosystem. A new environmental tax will be set for the trade and social enterprises in the areas of Sevan National park in the amount of 0.5-1.0 per cent, as well as progressive inventory tax will be set for the business entities having leased land areas in Sevan National Park and its adjacent areas, but not doing any business.
May 31, 2017 at 17:03


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The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent
my employer's view in any way.
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I keep getting questions about the use of custom exceptions with serviced components, and why they sometimes lose their type "on the wire". As I never really finished this topic in my previous blog entries, I thought it was about time I provided a small conclusion.
From my somewhat limited understanding of the subject there is an optimization taking place in the underlying infrastructure. If your method signature only contains isomorphic types like integers, strings and doubles it is more efficient to use COM Interop to communicate with serviced components because then you don't have to utilize the .Net serialization engine. However if your method signature contains more complex types, non-isomorphic types like datasets, the .Net serialization engine will be used together with .Net remoting over a custom DCOM channel. In the latter case your custom exceptions will work as expected. Unfortunately, in the first case you will be limited by COM Interop that uses the COM infrastructure, HRESULT values and IErrorInfo, to support exception handling. The result is that exceptions with a registered HRESULT value like most system exceptions will be recreated and returned as expected while custom exceptions most likely will reappear as a COMException type if you provide your own HRESULT or as an ApplicationException type if your exception simply derives from that base class.
As far as I know there is no known fix for this problem short of forcing a more complex method signature, which isn't exactly something I would recommend.
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January 1, 2020 marked 13 years together, 6 years married, and 2 years as mamas. The fact remains, from the beginning to today, everything is better when we're together.
This is what happens when Lucien and Wesley get dressed together.
Our 5th wheel blew a tire. So when Lucien was putting the new one on, Wesley was not far. When he did veer off to play, it was only a matter of minutes before he would look up and say "mama mama mama mama mama mama" and run back over to her.
He's such a good helper. As long as there are cookies.
It has been over 13 years together now, and the more time we spend together, the more I wish we had more time to spend together.
The day that Lucien has to leave to go to work never gets easier. In fact, it is only getting harder as Wesley and her are getting to build their relationship more now that he is getting older. When mama is at work, he walks around the house looking for her. It breaks my heart. I can't even fathom the pain she feels in her heart when she has to go. The sacrifices she has made to support our family, and to allow me to experience the incredible moments with our little boy everyday, are appreciated beyond words.
We learned about each other over the years. We almost broke up once. But we didn't give up. We talk. A lot. Often about the same thing over and over. My theory is, life has a way of changing your perspective. That may change your view on certain, possibly critical things. It is important to stay on the same page as your partner, which may involve peiodic checking in. Much in the same way we need to express our love and gratitude and respect for each other. We are only human. We doubt ourselves. We need reassurance. We need comfort.


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The United States has issued over 680,000 green cards to migrants from Muslim-majority countries in the five-year period encompassing 2009 through 2013, according to Department of Homeland Security data.
Leo Hohmann, WND reported that while the Islamic agenda is being blamed solely on Obama "invasion," as some are calling it, occurred on the Obama administration's watch, it is a policy that has its roots in the 1980s with the full support of both parties.
To put this number in context, it surpasses the total population of Washington, D.C., which is 660,000.
Yet, the Gang of Eight immigration "reform" bill co-sponsored by GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio would have tripled the number of green cards being issued.
The data was released by Sen. Jeff Session, R-Ala., who serves on four Senate committees: Armed Services, Budget, Environment and Public Works, and Judiciary, where he is chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest.
Among those receiving green cards are foreign nationals admitted to the United States as refugees, who within one year must apply for lawful permanent resident status, also referred to as a green card.
Refugees, which are hand-picked by the United Nations for resettlement in U.S. cities and towns, have instant access to federal welfare and entitlements, along with local benefits and education services. These costs are not offset, the committee noted.
The 680,000 is not an estimate of total migration, as it does not include temporary migrants who return home, nor is it an estimate of population change, as it does not include births or deaths, among other considerations.
Rubio told Fox News host Sean Hannity earlier this week that he would not use Congress's power of the purse to shut off funding for the refugee program.
Rubio said he'd prefer Speaker Paul Ryan's plan, which would allow the Obama administration to continue on its resettlement binge — bringing in 85,000 refugees this year from countries including Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria, Burma and the Democratic Republic of Congo — all nations with active jihadist movements.
Obama wants to up the number from 85,000 to 100,000 in 2017.
Assuming no change in visa policy, the U.S. can expect to give green cards to another 680,000 more migrants from these countries over the next five years. A green card entitles recipients to access federal benefits, lifetime residency, work authorization, and a direct route to becoming a U.S. citizen.
The numbers could be higher still: Census Bureau data shows migration from the Middle East to be one of the fastest-growing categories. Additionally, if left in place, the President's refugee plan would substantially boost the annual number of migrants from this region admitted to the U.S. who, in turn, would be able to petition for their relatives to migrate to the U.S. in the future. Refugee and asylee admissions from Iraq, Somalia, and Iran alone contributed 124,000 individuals from FY09-FY13.
Green Card Totals, FY09-FY13
Pakistan (83K), Iraq (83K), Bangladesh (75K), Iran (73K), Egypt (45K), Somalia (31K), Uzbekistan (24K), Turkey (22K), Morocco (22K), Jordan (20K), Albania (20K), Lebanon (16K), Yemen (16K), Indonesia (15K), Syria (14K), Sudan (13K), Afghanistan (11K), Sierra Leone (10K), Guinea (8K), Senegal (7K), Saudi Arabia (7K), Algeria (7K), Kazakhstan (7K), Kuwait (5K), Gambia (5K), United Arab Emirates (4K), Azerbaijan (4K), Mali (3K), Burkina Faso (3K), Kyrgyzstan (3K), Kosovo (3K), Mauritania (2K), Tunisia (2K), Tajikistan (2K), Libya (2K), Turkmenistan (1K), Qatar (1K), Chad (1K)
Read the full story here.


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Sirena, A Happy Tummy Tuck Customer
My name is Sirena, I came to see Dr. Joseph Jensen for a Tummy Tuck. I really enjoyed Dr. Jensen's personal touch and his very kind and nice personality in discussing my condition and my situation. I explained to him that I was tired of the stretched out skin from several pregnancies that caused me […]
- Posted on: Sep 28 2017
- Leave a response


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UPDATED – An Octopus, a spoon, some rope and pulleys, a spatula and a whole heap of physics just to make yourself a coffee? Rube Goldberg's cartoons would depict crazy inventions that took a simple task and made it convoluted and very entertaining.
Proving there are a multitude of ways in which to perform one task.
These cartoons from the 1920's to 1940's were the perfect basis for an Official Rube Goldberg puzzler game on iOS; Rube Works.
Game play ushers you in gently with the first Level of the current nine on offer, where you are tasked with making a cup of Orange Juice.
There is a tutorial where you will get to grips with both game mechanics and objects available to use in the lower screen Menu.
Basically, you are kitted out with a series of items from string to oddly named creatures and more. Using the environment within the Level and a drag and drop style, you will need to figure out how to complete a simple task that is set before you.
Simple? Well, no not really.
Your items are limited, and it's a case of figuring out the best use for them, and from what I could tell, there is only one correct answer, but a multitude of ways to complete the task.
At the conclusion of the Level you are awarded a Gold Prune. If you have done it perfectly you will receive up to a maximum of three. You will also, usually unlock a Rube Goldberg cartoon and a series of Achievements.
Produced by Electric Eggplant and the Heirs of Rube Goldberg, developed by Kalani Games, and published by Unity Games Rube Works is the perfect sit down and quick play game either on your iPhone or iPad (releasing soon to Android).
Puzzles get trickier as you progress, and you will really find your brain sweating with a few of them.
Rube Works the Official Rube Goldberg App is a clear winner. Graphically detailed whilst retaining simplicity.
Adapting 2D cartoons into a 3D space and very rewarding when you solve each of the puzzles.
A game you will want to complete.
* You can read our Interview with the Rube Works team here.
* Get the App here.
*UPDATE: Rube Works has just released on Steam this week for Windows, Mac and Linux.


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The Exchange Theory of Teenage Smoking and the Counterproductiveness of Moderate Regulation
NBER Working Paper No. 8262
About three-quarters of secondary schools are reluctant to vigorously enforce smoking bans due to various social pressures; ten percent of these schools do not have bans at all. Empirically, school-based smoking regulations appear, at best, ineffective at reducing teenage smoking and, more likely, may actually increase participation. Only schools which vigorously enforce bans have a lower smoking participation. In sum, teenage smoking participation appears to be non-monotonic in the level of enforcement. This paper develops an exchange model that explains this non-monotonic pattern. Smoking bans provide an exchange opportunity to less popular students. Less popular students who begin smoking validate the risk-taking behavior of existing teenage smokers who, in exchange, provide friendship to the newcomers. The enforcement itself becomes the glue which holds the group together. Teenage smoking bans, unless vigorously enforced, increase teenage smoking participation. An increase in self-esteem and other non-smoking related qualities, however, undermines the trading channel, which can help combat teenage smoking. Numerous pieces of empirical evidence, culled from the empirical social psychology literature, are consistent with all of the key predictions of the model.
Machine-readable bibliographic record - MARC, RIS, BibTeX
Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w8262
Users who downloaded this paper also downloaded* these:
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"At home on the building site"
When you took a look into hall 3, you couldn't have missed it during the Fastener Fair Stuttgart 2019!
From far away you were able to see the Don Quichotte stand in full stride. The booth was wonderful as ever which has helped to contribute to the great result achieved during this exhibition. It was our pleasure to welcome a lot of different relations and partners at our Stand, which made it a coming and going of old acquaintances and new faces.
In short, the Fastener Fair Stuttgart was a great success for your Don Quichotte team and we're looking forward to the next edition in 2021!
Fasten your seatbelts…Exhibition News
Here you find an article about Don Quichotte showcasing its innovative products and solutions in hall 3, stand 2018, at Fastener Fair 2019.
High-quality hardened steel nails
Here editor Will Lowry speaks to Jan-Willem van der Wijngaart, general sales manager at Don Quichotte B.V, about the hardened steel nails market and the challenges of being a Dutch manufacturer.
Exposition stand Don Quichotte for Light + Building 2018New catchphrase: "At home on the building site"
To prepare the exposition stand of Don Quichotte for last Light + Building, the catchphrase has evolved, the catalog has been updated and the new products have been exhibited. The world market leader in hardened steel nails manufactures products with amazing leadership, for installers and the construction sector. A plug isn't a plug and a nail isn't just a nail.
"At home on the building site" and lots of success at the Light + Building,


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Security Solutions
Security has become a necessity in our culture today. We have all heard horror stories of break-ins, robberies, or other crimes that could have been prevented by a proper security system. We are proud to offer solutions to help you rest a little easier at night. We provide home security, access control and video camera options for any size project. Give us a call when you are ready to properly secure your most valuable assets.


text: amy83 0 Posted June 23, 2007 Hi all, I'm new here. My partner's mum has offered to give us a budgie - she breeds them (I've had a couple as pets when I was a kid, but not for many years!), however the budgie would have to live with 2 indoor cats. I'm really not sure how it's going to work to be honest! My cats would definitely try to get at the cage, and I don't know how I could keep them away from it? Any suggestions? The only other option is to keep the budgie outside, but that would mean getting an aviary which puts the cost up a fair bit! Thanks in advance Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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We have designed these Boosted hookers to give you that edge you might need on tricky waters, they have been designed with added Betaine ,LZ-32 and feed enhances to mention just a few of the extra's you get so when you need that little edge use these in conjunction with there normal bottom bait as your fee offerings and see the difference for your self.
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Submit yours


text: Google Project Sunroof Makes Solar Panel Research Easy by ericcwagner | Interesting, Technology, Video | 0 comments See more about this over on Engadget. Submit a Comment Cancel replyYour email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *Comment Name * Email * Website Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.


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Welcome to Our Site!
1 Years
Welcome to Our Site!
Company Info
Shin tech. in Korea, is manufacturing cold forged outlet fittings especially for the fire sprinkler piping
systems. The items can be replaced a lot of sizes of conventional welding Tees.
The products can make better safety and reduce fabrication time and money.
As you know, there are so many branch-fittings suppliers and manufacturers in the world.
But Shin tech Crop. is competitive due to specialize in outlet fittings and fire sprinkler piping system.
Shin tech Crop is the only company that makes these products in Korea.
Shin tech Crop would very appreciate if you let us have a chance to show you our products and services.
We are the only company that makes these products in Korea, so we can provide almost all kind of
branch fittings at the very competitive price. We would very appreciate if you let us have a chance to
show you our products and services. If you are interested in our items, please dont hesitate to contact us
and send your enquiry. We will offer our best price for items and amount. We hope that we have a great
business relationship with you.
New Products


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A couples' massager with a remote control and eight different stimulation modes for powerful and targeted stimulation.
Designed to be worn during intercourse, the LELO Tiani 3 is a remotely controlled SenseMotion couples' sex toy. It has a battery life of one hour and is completely waterproof and rechargeable.
- Vibrator Material:
- Pure Silicone,ABS Plastic
- Material Safety:
- Phthalate free,Latex free,Non-porous
- Vibrator Special Features:
- Waterproof,Remote control
- Power:
- Rechargeable
- Insertable Length:
- 78.2 mm
- Vibrator Functions:
- Vibrating,Pulsating,Wireless,Multi-speed,Multi-pattern,Multi-function
- Width:
- 1.25"
- Height:
- 1.75"
- Length:
- 3.00"
Buy It Now
Product Video
Related Toys
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Sex can be fun, but that doesn't mean it's always easy. Different people have different desires, differing libidos and different time frames when it comes to how long it...
Sex toys have been going high-tech for quite a while now but one advance we've really been enjoying is the increasing number of remote-controlled toys. As you might...


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Acis is the leading French manufacturer of standard alarms.
We introduced our alarms detectors at the begining of ACIS, and were the first French manufacturer.
Our products are approved and certified, controlled by the National Test Laboratory, the only organization authorized to issue certificates of conformity for pool alarms. Alarms are economical, simple to set up. These devices do not replace the vigilance of an adult.
ACIS alarms are designed to be easily installed on most pools that need to be secured (mounting kits with screwing are provided).
Detection in the pool is optimal within a radius of 7 meters around the sensor, beyond that it is advisable to equip the pool with one or more additional immersion detectors.
Under our Weltico brand, specialist in pool equipment, discover 3 flagship products made in France.
And efficient.
A discreet box under the edge, indicator lights indicate the monitoring status.
Pressure sensor monitoring.
Operates optionally with our alarm report (effective up to 30 m from the alarm). Compatible with pool shutter.
Options and / or more Alert Report A box to install up to 30m from the alarm with integrated siren and lights. It optimizes monitoring reporting. Control by magnet.
Mounting on edge, permanent information on monitoring status.
Siren 100 DB.
Sand, grey and dark grey.
Options and / or more Color choice
Mounting on edge offering maximum monitoring and two monitoring modes. 100DB siren.
You want to download the technical documentation of each product? Ask us for access to our pro areapro access


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This Quickstart Guide will help you to connect to WPA2, Suffolk University's secured wireless Network for faculty, staff and students. Students will need their Suffolk username and password to access SU_Student_WPA2. Faculty and staff must use their Suffolk desktop username and password to access SU_Staff_WPA2.
University Computer Policy
Suffolk University computing resources referenced by this document are bound by the University Acceptable Use Policy.
If you are running MacOS 10.5, please see the separate Connecting to Suffolk University's wireless WPA2 networks on MacOS X document.
Step 1
On the Mac OSX desktop, click the wireless icon on the upper right hand side of the screen. Click on "Turn Wi-Fi On" if "Wi-Fi Off".
Step 2
On the Mac OSX desktop, click the wireless icon on the upper right hand side of the screen. Select SU_Student_WPA2 or SU_Staff_WPA2 from the menu that appears.
Step 3
When the login window appears:
- Students must enter their Suffolk email username (without the @suffolk.edu) and password; faculty and staff must enter their Suffolk desktop login username and password.
- Check Remember this network
- Click Join
Step 4
When the authentication certificate appears, click the "Show Certificate" button. Verify that it says it is from "uac.suffolk.edu".
Step 5
When the window expands, click the arrow next to "Trust."
Step 6
In the drop-down menu next to "When using this certificate": select the "Always Trust" option. Make sure that the other drop-down menus have the "Always Trust" option displayed, and then click the "Continue" button.
After following these steps, whenever your computer detects SU_Student_WPA2 or SU_Staff_WPA2 you will be able to connect automatically.
You should now be connected to the SU_Student_WPA2 or SU_Staff_WPA2 wireless network.
If you are still unable to connect after following the above instructions, please contact the Help Desk at (617) 557-2000 or email firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Friday Funk?!
It's Friday…I feel like I should be jumping for joy. But for some reason I feel this sense of dread/sadness/blah creeping over me. What gives?!
I feel like I go through these days rather often, and I'm not sure how to stop it. There are times that I feel SUPER AWESOME and ready to take on the world. I see my life in a really positive light and feel grateful and hopeful and excited. But then there are other moments and days, like today, where I just can't shake the cloud. I can't even really pinpoint what it is that makes me feel this way. Is it the overcast weather? The fact that I am frustrated by my job? That I don't have any close friends in the area? That my family is far away? That the litter box needs changing, the bathroom needs scrubbing and I haven't showered yet today?
I wish I knew what it was that was making me feel this reoccurring funk. I would nip it in the bud and move on with my life. Life is too short to feel this way on a regular basis. How do I maximize the awesome moments? How can I start LIVING my life with a perpetual sense of YAHOOAWESOMERAINBOWS?!
I turn 29 in a few weeks and want to put the funk behind me for good. It's time to figure it out once and for all!
Happiness please.
Posted on August 23, 2013, in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.


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Cosmetics and skincare
Gardener's soap - Nigella damascena Cosmetics and skincare
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Gardener's soap - Tulsi & Lavender Cosmetics and skincare
Tulsi, or Holy Basil, is revered in India as the Queen of Plants for its purifying properties. We blend its leaves and flowers with precious lavender oil for this unique handmade soap.
Solid Shampoo Bar Cosmetics and skincare
Our solid shampoo bar has been developed from plant-based byproducts from our organic seeds. This way, we can reduce waste and upcycle our plants! Its rich foam and subtle fragrance combine for a great shower experience, without compromises.
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INGREDIENTS : Disodium Lauryl Sulfosuccinate,Cetearyl Alcohol, Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Starch*, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Glycerin, Coco-Glucoside, Stearic Acid, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter*, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil*, Parfum (Fragrance), Aqua (Water), Limonene, Linum Usitatissimum (Linseed) Seed Extract*. 100G net
*Ingrédients issus de l'Agriculture Biologique / Zutaten aus kontrolliert biologischem Anbau /Organic ingredients.


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When was the last time you built something — I mean the stand there in the garage or backyard or craft room with a satisfied smirk on your face kind of build? A "build" that forced you out of your comfort zone, came with sparse instructions, confronted you with few tools other than your wits and resolve? One where the whisper of catastrophe was the Rasputin in your ear?
If you're in executive management, I'd propose that such an experience may be crucial to your learning. and growth.
I was reminded this week of how much our technology-saturated lives can create yawing distance from the physical world, but also from a world of the unknown, the place of adventure where learning resides. It was an article in the Washington Post that essentially served as a eulogy for an era when guys (yes, mostly guys) worked on their own cars. Those were journeys in problem-solving, resourcefulness, innovation and perhaps a bit of mischief. It was physical, tiring, rewarding. We had no YouTube videos to guide us — just inventiveness and determination — and a cadre of fellow car owners who exchanged knowledge, tools and bragging rights. It taught lessons that lasted a lifetime.
Today, cars are so complex, so self-governing, so inaccessible that they serve as a metaphor of larger areas of life. Technology can make everything so easy, we lose sight of what is hard and the value it brings. We are forced or seduced into pursuing efficiency and speed as the higher order. We can convince ourselves that our ability to control our condition and be proficient are the measures of success, and forget all about curiosity, exploration and flat-out, white-knuckle risk. You are not necessarily growing if you are just getting better at what you've always been good at doing.
No, you don't have to work on cars (can't much these days anyway), but how do you be intentional about reclaiming your sense of adventure and stretch-growth? Here are some things to consider in finding that "building" activity:
Get in over your head. Whatever you choose, there is something about feeling totally outside your element that invites you to reach inside yourself or reach outside yourself. You'll never know your limits unless you try to exceed them.
Do something where you will need help. While it may be satisfying to figure things out for yourself, leadership is never about being inside your own head, nor should its learning. When we invite others in to our struggles, it gives them an avenue to be needed and reminds us of our interdependency.
Welcome failure. It's all about resilience, resourcefulness, patience, stamina.
Make it up as you go. Most of us who built our muscle cars years ago never started with a project plan; we just learned as we went along, adding "stuff" as our confidence and knowledge grew. Take a hike and just see where it takes you.
Burn the instruction book. Nothing will test your logic, your problem-solving, your intuition like not having a clue what to do.
Look down, not just up. Our mantra for learning is always reaching up to that higher platform, but sometimes the greatest growth is the humblest — taking on tasks or activities that feel a bit beneath us, but can remind us that there is honor in work at any level.


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Processing of raw data from Level 0 packets will
require extraction of the Instrument
Source Packets from the Level 0 Product.
The following sections describe the packet
structure and arrangement for five
types of ASAR Level0 products, the Image mode, Wide Swath mode, Wave mode, Global Monitoring mode,
and Alternating Polarisation
mode. A description of decompressing FBAQ-coded
data is given last.
Level 0 Measurement Data Sets consist of
Annotation Packet and Instrument
Source Packets. The Annotation Packet
contains five fields: date code, length of
ISP packet, two error counters and a
spare word. The Annotations are
shown in detail in table 2.14 . The length word in this
packet is corrected with any
identified transmission errors (as
compared to the ISPs) and is more reliable.
The Instrument Source Packets consist of a number
of 16-bit words arranged in a Header
which includes Identification,
Sequence Control and Length. The Packet Data
field follows the Header and
contains a Data Field (sub-)Header,
Source Data Field and optional Packet Error Control.
Bits are displayed left-to-right, numbering from
0, and with least significant byte
on the right, as for ordinary
numbers. The Packet header is shown in table 2.15 below.
In the Identification word, Version, Type, and
DataField are constants, with
Application ID represented in 11 bits. These
vary by instrument mode as shown in table 2.16 . The Segment counter
represents data segment sequence
number and is reset to zero for ASAR mode
changes. The Length word represents data lengths
from 1 to 65536, except the
minimum length is actually 1008 due to
data transmission requirements.
The Packet Data entries in the table give details
of the settings of the radar during
operation. The code words for Pulse
Repetition Interval, Window Start-time, etc
are described in the third column
showing the calculation for the code
word. To obtain the actual value, manipulate
the algebraic expression, so that PRI =
codeword/RadarSamplingRate. For example,
RadarSamplingRate=1/19.2MHz, PRI =
10300/19.2E6=536 microseconds.
The compression ratio code is: 00 for 8/4
compression; 01 for 8/4 compression;
10 for 8/3 compression; 11 for 8/2
compression where 8/2 indicates 8 bits
compressed to two using FBAQ
flexible block-adaptive quantisation.
The Application Identification codes
listed in table 2.16 appear in the first
word of the Packet Header as the
least significant 11 bits. The most
significant bits are the pattern 10001.
Therefore the first word of the
packet for Image Mode will be 8E14.
During Image mode a continuous series of pulses
and echoes are acquired. The initial
transmissions include a calibration
sequence, but this changes to interleaved
echo measurement and calibration pulses. Figure
1 shows the arrangement of
transmissions and echo receptions.
Table 2.19 shows the Packet Format
for averaging mode (4-bit
quantisation). This format applies
to both Image Mode and Wide Swath Mode. The
filler bytes are added to ensure 972
bytes of source packet plus 6byte
packet header and 30 byte packet data header are
1008 bytes or longer. This data size
is the minimum transmitted in CCSDS
format used in the spacecraft downlink.
Table 2.20 shows the format of the
Calibration data, which are
always quantised to 8 bits. The number
of samples in a sampling window is given in the
Window Length codeword in table 2.15 .
Table 2.21 shows the format of
Noise data. The data are padded to
972 bytes if necessary.
In Wide Swath Mode the radar is operated in
subswaths, Q <= 6, and within a
cycle a subswath may be sampled again,
up to P samples per cycle, where P<=12.
Each packet shown is comprised of
data samples described in table 2.19 Source Packet Format
Echo Data. Table 2.20 and Table 2.21 for calibration data,
periodic calibration data and noise
data also apply.
The Wave Mode packets consist of compressed echo
packets (compressed 8 to 2),
calibration packets and noise packets,
interleaved as shown in table 2.22 , below.
In Wave Mode there are two calibration intervals,
a chirp calibration with 2 windows
(called simply
"Calibration" in the table), and
continuous wave (CW) calibration
with 97 windows ("Calibration
Sequence" in the table). The echo data is 8
windows and noise data is 8 windows.
In the wave mode data, each sampling window
contains blocks corresponding to
PRIs, and sample codewords with quantity
specified in the data header. The 2bit
codewords are uncompressed in
accordance with FBAQ decoding scheme. This
is explained in SECTION TBD. Filler bytes
are added when necessary to provide
1008 byte blocks when the packet header
(36 bytes) is included.
Calibration packets in Wave mode appear in either
3 windows or 97 windows depending on
the calibration pulse (chirp and CW
respectively). The data are quantised to 8 bits
not compressed.
The Wave Mode noise packet is formatted to sign
and magnitude with fixed exponent.
The number of samples is defined in the
data header Window Length word, divided by
the Resampling factor.
GM Mode echo packets are as described in Table 2.19 , Averaging Mode.
GM Mode Calibration data are described in Table 2.20 .
GM Mode Noise data are described in Table 2.26 .
In this mode each sampling window contains either
echo data, initial calibration,
periodic calibration or noise data. The
periodic calibration data is four sampling
windows. In table 2.28 following, the format
for VV-HH (co-polar) mode is shown.
Cross-polar modes VV and HH are
similar except VV becomes HV and HH becomes VH.
Packet contents for the AP source packets have
been described earlier. Table 2.19 describes the echo data,
Table 7 calibration, Table 8 for noise.
FBAQ compresses the raw SAR echo data from 8 bits
per sample to 4, 3 or 2 bits per
sample, abbreviated 8/4, 8/3, 8/2.
This is a lossy compression method, meaning
that distortion in the form of
"quantization noise" is
added. The distortion is proportional to the
degree of compression.
Decompression of FBAQ-coded data is accomplished
with the use of look-up-tables,
abbreviated LUTs. The LUTs map the
codewords to normalized floating-point
values. There is one LUT for
I-channel and one for the Q-channel when
corrections for the differences in
analog-to-digital (ADC) converters
are applied.
The LUTs are determined from the standard
deviation and mean of the SAR data.
The threshold values are not uniform but
are selected to produce results with minimum
least-square error, based on statistics of SAR
echoes. The reconstructed value is
based on the threshold values and
code words. The same tables may be used for
positive and negative values (the
reconstructed values are symmetric
about zero).
Table 2.29 , table 2.30 and table 2.31 show the threshold
values for 4-bit, 3-bit and 2-bit reconstruction.
The reconstruction thresholds are
where Dn is given in the tables
above, and is the standard deviation and
is the mean. For SAR
data the mean is zero, and the standard
deviation is given in the BlockID.
The decompression algorithm is then
For each range line
For each block in the range line
read the BlockID
Select a LUT corresponding to
compression level
and BlockID
unpack FBAQ codewords
reconstruct data using codewords and
LUT entry
For each range line
For each block in the range line
read the BlockID
Select a LUT corresponding to
compression level
and BlockID
unpack FBAQ codewords
reconstruct data using codewords and
LUT entry
For each block in the range line
read the BlockID
Select a LUT corresponding to
compression level
and BlockID
unpack FBAQ codewords
reconstruct data using codewords and
LUT entry
read the BlockID
Select a LUT corresponding to
compression level
and BlockID
unpack FBAQ codewords
reconstruct data using codewords and
LUT entry
The LUT is an array which is 256 entries across
(corresponding to the 8-bit BlockID) and 16-rows
(for 4-bit), 8-rows (for 3-bit), and
4-rows (for 2-bit compression). The
values of the entries of the six different
LUTs (one each for I and Q, three different
quantisations) are provided in the
Instrument Characterisation File 6.5.2. .


text:
Jan Macvarish, 14 October 2010
For over a decade, Britain's falling rates of teenage pregnancy have functioned as important evidence society is being dragged into the abyss by the dreadful behaviour of young people. Previously, teenage pregnancy was considered the small problem of some under 16s with inadequate self restraint or contraceptive nous. Policymakers saw its negative side in the limitations it placed on young women's opportunities, and the welfare costs of maintaining poor, single mothers.
Yet from 1999, New Labour's social exclusion agenda redefined 'the problem of teenage pregnancy', and expanded our perception of its scale. All teenage pregnancies, not just the youngest ones, were categorised as a problem. The inclusion of older teenagers, who are far more likely to proceed with a pregnancy than their younger counterparts, redefined the issue from one of uncontrolled sex to one of uncontrolled motherhood.
The discussion surrounding teenage pregnancy therefore involves important questions. How should we address poverty and inequality? How should the boundaries of adulthood and childhood be defined? How and why should the family be defended? How should adults guide children through adolescence and into adulthood? Unfortunately, when these concerns are expressed through the prism of teenage motherhood, adult society too often displaces its responsibility for resolving them onto the behaviour of children and young people.
The politicisation of teenage pregnancy involves a return to explanations of poverty and inequality that begin from considering behaviour at an individual level. On the one hand, teenage pregnancy is strongly associated with social disadvantage. Unsurprisingly, girls with a realistic expectation of positive opportunities in life are less likely to let themselves conceive and, if they do, more likely to opt for abortion. On the other hand, in a reversal of causation, policy has treated teenage pregnancy as a cause rather than a symptom of restricted opportunities. Solutions to the problems of poor communities have become increasingly targeted at the intimate choices of private life.
For example, the Family Nurse Partnership programme (1) piloted in the UK under New Labour (2) but popular with key members of the new coalition (3), presumes young mums need intense surveillance and support. From the fifth month of pregnancy until the child is two years old, the teenager (or in the original US programme, low income first time mums of any age) is visited in her home every two weeks by a health visitor. The health visitor is tasked with training her in appropriate prenatal behaviour, guiding her familial and intimate relationships, shaping her educational and employment choices and training her in 'healthy' parenting practices.
The cross-party influence of MPs Graham Allen and Ian Duncan Smith demonstrates the growing consensus that poor communities' only hope is 'early intervention'. Early intervention is a magically powerful formula for a better society, It's built on bogus brain science, discredited American policy experiments and a slippery grasp of the distinction between the mental and emotional damage caused by extreme child abuse and the ordinary difficulties of tough lives.
In the 2008 report for the Centre for Social Justice, 'Early Intervention: Good parents, great kids, better citizens' (3), there is no mention of preventing teenage pregnancy. Rather, 0-18 year olds 'at risk' of social disadvantage should be 'intervened on', so when they do become parents before the age of 20, they'll be 'child-ready'. This demonstrates a staggering short-circuiting of any sense of human potential. People are effectively given up on by the age of 18. The focus swiftly shifts from the quality of their adult lives, to the threat posed by their offspring. In this way, concern over teenage pregnancy plays an important role in legitimating increasingly intrusive and degrading responses to genuine social needs.
Once, young mothers were considered a problem because they were less likely to be married. Now, they're problematic because they're too young to parent. Underpinning recent family policy is a belief the years 0-3 are the most important in a person's life. This strongly deterministic, one-chance-only dogma provides a rationale for 'early intervention' prior to any evidence of actual neglect or harm, based on 'risk-factors' such as maternal age. Whilst an out of wedlock pregnancy in the past could be resolved by a shotgun wedding, a teenage pregnancy today, whether intended or not, is an ongoing problem rectified only through expert guidance. Even if the mother is married to the father, both can be targeted for intervention, as teenage fathers are increasingly brought into the frame of policy attention.
The pregnant teenager's transition to parenthood has become detached from a transition to autonomous adulthood. But we should be wary of the infantilisation of those teenagers who decide to become parents. Research tells us many teenagers who become mothers do so precisely because they're hungry for an opportunity to attain adult status by taking responsibility for their 'mistake' (5, 6, 7). We do them no favours by labelling them 'vulnerable' and their babies 'at-risk'.
Teenagers occupy the awkward position of being neither child nor adult. At a time when we're uneasy about the boundaries between the two, it's hardly surprising 'children having children' become the poster girls for our confusion. Ironically, the more we erode the meaning of parenthood as an intrinsically adult occupation, the more likely less mature teenagers will see having a baby as a way of receiving recognition and support for their vulnerability. This undermines parenthood as a route for achieving true adult status, experiencing the benefits of taking responsibility and exercising autonomy.
Just as the problem of teenage pregnancy became expanded from the under-16s to the under-20s, so the definition of 'problem parents' has been extended to meaningless proportions. The social exclusion agenda shifted the focus of concern about inequality from those actually living in poverty to those 'at-risk' from its effects (9).
Again, this both redefined and expanded the problem. It dressed up conservative concerns about a growing underclass in the clothing of a commitment to social justice for the 'excluded'. New Labour distanced itself from the previous Conservative government's aggressive rhetorical attacks on particular groups of parents, most notably single mothers. Yet in doing this, it further aggrandised the scale of social problems by universalising concern with a 'parenting deficit' until any sense of proportion has been lost.
The net of vulnerability has been cast wider still. 'Middle-class' has come to mean those who share a concern over the problem of parenting, such that they welcome state advice and interventions into family life. Those who reject or are oblivious to the new rules of parenting are defined as 'hard-to-reach' and 'vulnerable'. They're therefore in need of more persistent and aggressive attempts to convince them that parenting does not, in fact, 'come naturally'. Teenage pregnancy has provided the terrain on which many of these arguments have been forged and won. It has prepared the way for previously unthinkable intrusions into private life and undermining parental autonomy.
Disoriented parents increasingly interpret their family life through the lens of externally generated concerns. These range from 'five-a-day' to officially sanctioned behaviour management techniques, such as reward charts and the naughty step (9). The parent-child relationship is rethought as one naturally defined by harm rather than care. It requires skills more than love.
Meanwhile, the politicisation of parenting sharpens the eyes of defensive mums and dads to the misdemeanours of other parents. They are therefore more inclined to accept a disciplinary approach from institutions, such as schools. For example, schools may require them to record their 'parenting' activities in the homework diary and expose their children's lunchboxes to the scrutiny of dinner ladies or even Year 6 pupils. In this respect, we have all become 'teenage' parents. This is regardless of whether we're 'good girls' eager to prove to teacher that we're getting it right, or 'bad girls' presumed incompetent of raising the next generation without guidelines and formal instruction, and sulkily objecting to feeling 'judged'.
The politicisation of teenage pregnancy is often challenged on the grounds it is a 'moral panic' concerning sexual behaviour, unmarried motherhood or underclass welfare dependence. In fact, there is little 'morality' in the discussion about teenage pregnancy.
In moving away from a 'morally blaming' approach but remaining at the level of individual behaviour, social exclusion psychologised rather than moralised social phenomenon. To avoid alienating liberal supporters and deterring the 'hard-to-reach' from engaging with state services, New Labour shied away from stigmatising teenage parents with an 'old-fashioned' moral discourse of marriage and sex. Instead, it problematised teenage pregnancy through the language of health, psycho-social risks and 'socio-economic outcomes' (10). The move away from moralising about sexual behaviour is welcome, and few would relish a return to coerced adoption and 'ruined reputations'. However, the centrality of teenage pregnancy, coupled with the way adults in authority now relate to young people, displays a profound state of moral confusion.
Preventing teenage pregnancy has become the lynchpin of the argument for moving sex, relationships and parenting education to a more central position in the national curriculum and organising youth-oriented community projects around sexual health. These developments are usually justified by the idea Britain has a particularly dysfunctional attitude to sex that needs correcting for us all to develop 'healthy' sexualities. Teenagers are encouraged to 'open up' about sex in semi-public settings such as the classroom or the youth club. They're exposed to images of advanced genital infections in a crude attempt at deterrence. The argument is increasingly made that they need instruction in 'good parenting', since they're presumed to have been denied exposure to it within their own families.
The tendency to medicalise and instrumentalise teenage sexual development means the alleged threat to society from ill-parented babies, along with disease, becomes the rationale for guiding adolescent sexuality. This is starkly opposed to fostering more positive meanings of love, pleasure or intimate experimentation. At the same time, parents' commendable sexual reticence and attachment to privacy is pathologised by sexual health educators as evidence of a lack of confidence or skills in discussing sexual matters (11). The dysfunction presumption negates the claims of adults other than 'experts' to the possession of greater wisdom and experience of sex and relationships, undermining their authority in guiding their sons and daughters' development.
Teenage mothers have achieved a negative iconic status at a time when rates of teenage pregnancy have reached consistently lowered levels both in the USA and the UK (5, 12). There are complex reasons behind this, making it a fascinating case study in contemporary social thinking.
This Battle in Print is an attempt to stand back from the arguments about how teenage pregnancy should be dealt with. It considers how, as the teenager's body has become seen as an inappropriate vessel for a baby, it has become the perfect vessel for the social pessimism and the political and moral disorientation that underpins contemporary policy making.
Jan Macvarish, researcher and lecturer, Centre for Health Service Studies, University of Kent, Canterbury; contributor to Teenage Parenthood: What's the Problem? by Duncan, Edwards and Alexander.
(1) Nurse-family partnership
(2) Health-led parenting support, DCMS, 15 June 2009
(3) Early intervention: good parents, great kids, better citizens , Centre for Social Justice,
(4) Bruer, JT. (1999). The Myth of the First Three Years: A new understanding of early brain development and lifelong learning. New York: The Free Press
(5) Arai, L. (2009) Teenage Pregnancy: The making and unmaking of a problem. Bristol: The Policy Pres
(6) Coleman, L. and Cater, S. (2006) 'Planned' teenage pregnancy: perspectives of parents from disadvantaged backgrounds in England. Bristol: The Policy Press
(7) Macvarish J. and Billings J. (2010). Challenging the irrational, amoral and anti-social construction of the 'teenage mother'. In Duncan, S., Edwards, R. and Alexander, C. (Eds.) Teenage parenting – what's the problem? London: Tufnell Press
(8) Dodds, A. (2009). Families 'at risk' and the Family Nurse Partnership: the intrusion of risk into social exclusion policy. Journal of Social Policy, 38: 3
(9) Bristow, J (2009). Standing up to Supernanny. Exeter: Imprint Academic
(10) Macvarish, J. (2010) The Effect of 'Risk-Thinking' on the Contemporary Construction of Teenage Motherhood, Health, Risk and Society, Vol.12, No. 4, August 2010, 313-322
(11) Parents 'Failing Sex Education Duty, The Times, 12 April, 2007
(12) Luker, K. (1997). Dubious Conceptions: The Politics of Teenage Pregnancy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
"Without ideas forged in the clash of opposition - there is no way forward. The Battle of Ideas is a must do event."
Lynne Featherstone MP, Liberal Democrats


text:
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