Global Political Economy Research Question Paper

Global Political Economy Question - Research Paper Example Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the Cuba Assets Control Regulations of 1963, the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, and the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 20001. When the embargo reached its fiftieth anniversary, there are arguments both in favor of and against it. While some people claim that it is the only way for the U.S to bring Cuba to respect democracy and human rights, some others think that it only hinders Cuba from converting to democracy. This paper argues that lifting the embargo would promote democracy and free trade markets in Cuba. When Batista was overthrown in Cuba in the Cuban Revolution, the new revolutionary government, under the leadership of Castro, started seizing U.S properties in the island and nationalizing them. As a response, the U.S reduced the Cuban import quota of brown sugar through the Sugar Act of 1948. However, the revolutionary government of Cuba gained support from the Soviet Union, which offered to purchase sugar from Cuba2. The situation grew worse when Cuba supported the Soviet Union in the Cold War. Infuriated, the Kennedy government extended the embargo measures. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, travel restrictions to Cuba came into force in 1963 and as a response to the Cuban hosting of Soviet nuclear weapons, Cuban Assets Control Regulations came into force, freezing Cuban properties in the U.S. Though the restriction on the U.S citizens from visiting Cuba expired in 1977, it is still illegal for U.S citizens to spend money or receive gifts in Cuba without a U.S government issued license. That is, it is not possible for the U.S citizens to pay airfare ticket taxes at a Cuban airport. In essence, though the travel restriction was removed, it is not possible for U.S citizens to visit Cuba without breaking the monetary transaction rule. However, by the year 2009, a change came as the Obama administration eased the ban, allowing Cuban-Americans to travel freely to Cuba3. The

Art history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Art history - Essay Example visually appears the same as buon fresco, the pigments simply adhere to the surface since they are not absorbed into the wall; hence fresco secco does not have buon secco’s longevity (Gardner et al: 410). â€Å"This mural painting is among the greatest twelfth century European paintings in the United States†(MFA1, 2008). Earlier it had decorated the apse or semicircular area behind the altar of the monastery church of Santa Maria de Mur, in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees. The large-eyed, solemn figure of Christ, dominates the composition. He holds a book on which is inscribed reinforcing passages relating to Christ’s centralization in Christian art and doctrine, which states: â€Å"I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh into the Father but by me†. All four Evangelists, who are authors of the New Testament Gospels, surround Christ. The fresco’s lower tiers contain the twelve Apostles, the original followers of Christ, and scenes from the Bible. The formality, symmetry and positioning of the figures are Byzantine, but the Spanish artist substituted Byzantine mosaic in favor of direct painting on plaster coated walls. The iconographic scheme in the semi-dome of the apse is more closely related to those of the Romanesque Church portals of France. In the fresco, Christ in a star-strewn Mandorla is flanked by the signs of the four Evangelists, which is the apocalypse theme that greatly fascinated the Romanesque imagination. Seven lamps between Christ and the Evangelist signs symbolize the seven Christian communities where St.John addressed his revelation, the Apocalypse, at the beginning of his book. Below, the apostles stand in pairs, adding to the formality of the composition. The main figures are presented with partitioning of the drapery into volumes, made to look tubular by local shading. The painter stiffened the irregular shapes of actual cloth into geometric patterns. The effect overall is one of simple, strong, and str aightforward