The Saline project was the first Russian production-sharing agreement (AS) with foreign corporations. A AS is a commercial contract between investor(s) who are willing to make a large, long term and high risk investments with the host country that has the natural recourses (usually oil and/or gas) to exploit. The terms behind AAAS are usually deferent than regular commercial contracts, as they usually bypass some […]

When I signed up for this Introduction to Literature course I was not expecting it to be one of the most insightful and interesting classes that I have ever taken. Nevertheless, over the years I have learned to expect the unexpected and that truth held to it’s own with this course. After five years of avoiding any type of English Literature course I knew it […]

The Hero’s Journey In recent centuries, China has been subject to many foreign powers even on its own soil. In times of low national pride, martial art masters such as Ye Wen and Huo Yuanjia became national heroes, inspiring the Chinese people to prove their worth to visiting foreigners and preserve their sovereignty. Through a comparative study of heroic martial artists in the recent Chinese […]

Teenagers will be teenagers.  Perhaps this is the best way to understand the lives of eight teenagers in Hersch’s (1999) book, A Tribe Apart: A Journey into the Heart of American Adolescence.  Although Hersch only writes about American teenagers, adolescents around the world may be able to relate to the eight kids interviewed by the author. They are naughty, to say the least, and their […]

A journey of thousand miles, says an infamous adage, begins with a single step. This saying speaks volumes for life and relationships alike. Far from being generic, the saying does in fact strike a sensitive chord, at least as far as I am chiefly concerned. For early on in life, I have been taught that each one of us is bound to take a path […]