9 thoughts on “Ask Miss Begbie”

1. Miss Begbie,

   Do you have anything to help with structuring the US Immigration essays? Stuck on what to write about and where to start.

   Thanks

   Becky

2. Hi Becky
   I’ll put together an advice sheet for you – have a look back on the blog in a couple of days for it – I’ll post it as a new post,
   Miss B

3. Miss Begbie,

   Thank you for putting something together for me.
   Will have a go at it today, hopefully it will help.

   Becky

4. Hi,
   See a few weeks ago, what was it that you said about the UN or NATO? Lost my notes but can remember you said something important happened recently.
   Thanks
   Becky

5. Hi Becky

   I think there were a couple of things:

   UN:28th March the UN authorised an ‘Intervention Brigade in Congo to join the MONUSCO forces. This is the first forces authorised to use military action against rebel groups unlike peacekeepers who generally can’t engage in conflict except in self-defence. It is for one year only but does show a slight shift in how the UN is acting in civil conflicts.

   UN: 19 April, the Security Council voted on a resolution to condemn violence in Syria – this was not blocked by Russia or China so shows a slight change in their stance.

   Also, it is worth being aware of the changing situation in Syria and how the American policy is shifting.
   After reports of use of chemical weapons in Syria the Obama administration has stated that they will reconsider their opposition to arming rebel groups. This could be used as extra info in a role of USA essay, up to now they have not managed to stop the conflict, but are beginning to support new methods of doing so.

6. Thank you

7. Hey 🙂
   My notes are pretty jumbled back when we looked at the role of NATO. I’m super confused as to what’s going on with Kososvo and the KFOR mission. Anything to help?

8. Hi Susanna
   We looked at Kosovo quite briefly and you may remember I said it was part of our background to NATO and as it is over ten years old shouldn’t be used in too much detail in an essay. That’s probably why you have less notes on it.

   In a role of NATO essay I would focus on: Lisbon conference and latest ‘strategic concept’, their role post 9-11 with America against terrorism, current role in Afghanistan and plans to withdraw, air strikes in Syria, combatting new threats such as piracy and cyber-terrorism, NATO-russia council.

   If you do want to mention Kosovo, use it as an example of a fairly successful mission where the bombing campaign in 1999 did managed to (eventually) prevent further ethnic cleansing, KFOR has been based in the north of Kosovo ever since to keep the peace agreement stable. Relative peace over the last 10 years and Kosovo becoming independent in 2008 show that it has been partially successful in reducing the threat of further conflict in the area, however Kosovo is still not a member of the UN as an independent country and Serbia does not officially recognise it’s independence. Plus there were some skirmishes on the Serbia/Kosovo border in 2011 which shows that there is still lingering flashpoints in the region which NATO has not been able to resolve.

   find out more about the KFOR mission here

   However at this late stage I would not spend too much time added new detail to notes, focus on aspects of their work that you have the notes for and have used in an essay before. You could get away without discussing Kosovo in too much detail.
   Remember you can look at the mindmaps we did in class to give you some ideas, and also use the revision prezi to help.

9. Thanks 🙂
   I was also wondering, there’s a question from 2011: “Assess the effectiveness of government policies to reduce social and economical inequalities on the USA”
   I don’t remember studying this in class and can’t find anything in my notes about it.