Blood Diamond

Set against the backdrop of the chaos and civil war that happened in the 1990s Sierra Leone, "Blood Diamond" is the story of Danny Archer , an ex-mercenary from Zimbabwe, and Solomon Vandy , a fisherman. Both men are African, but their histories and their circumstances are as different as any can be until their fates become joined in a common quest to recover a rare diamond, the kind of stone that can transform a life…or end it. Solomon, who has been taken from his family and forced to work in the diamond fields, finds the extraordinary gem and hides it at great risk, knowing if he is discovered, he will be killed instantly. But he also knows the diamond could not only provide the means to save his wife and daughters from a life as refugees but also help rescue his son, Dia, from an even worse fate as a child soldier. Archer, who has made his living trading diamonds for arms, learns of Solomon's hidden stone while in prison for smuggling. He knows a diamond like this is a once-in-a-lifetime find—valuable enough to be his ticket out of Africa and away from the violence and corruption in which he has been a willing player. Enter Maddy Bowen, an idealistic American journalist who is in Sierra Leone to uncover the truth behind conflict diamonds, exposing the involvement of diamond industry leaders who have chosen profits over principles. Maddy seeks out Danny as a source for her article, but soon finds it is he who needs her even more. With Maddy's help, Danny and Solomon get on a dangerous walk through rebel territory. Danny needs Solomon to find and recover the valuable pink diamond, but Solomon seeks something far more precious…his son. In the end, Danny had died but not in vane. He died for a nobel purpose, which was reuniting a man with his family forgetting all what he believed in. Maddy, helped to unveil the truth about the organizations that uses conflict diamonds with the help of Solomon. About Solomon, he moved his life from the destruction that was in Africa to London.

I believe that the movie was a very realistic and moving movie. In my opinion, i liked how the three main characters had joined together for a very good purpose. What i didn't like in the movie was that they killed Danny in the end . He should have lived , but again , this proofs that it was a very realistic movie. Other than that , i loved the movie a lot.

Lebanon: A Beautiful Country with a Sad History

Introduction

Lebanon is considered now one of the most beautiful countries in the world with its beautiful nature life and modern life style. Lebanon lies on the south-west of Asia. With this location, Lebanon is the link between Asia and Europe. It is surrounded by many countries. From Asia, there are Jordan, Syria, and Israel. From Europe, there are Turkey and Cyprus. Lebanon had suffered a lot threw out the history.


Modern History

Between 1943 and 1948, a lot of dramatic and catastrophic events had happened in Lebanon. In 1943, Lebanon had gotten its freedom from the France but there was a catch. Christians ruled the country or most of it and the Muslims that lived there had little power which was the spark that led to increase the tension between the Muslims and Christians. Another factor was the refugees that came from Palestine due to the Israeli war. The tension reached its peak in 1975 when the Christians killed a bus that was full of Palestinians refugees. As a result of that, the tension escalated between those two groups, there was absolute chaos. Massacres had happened and trust between the Muslims and Christians had collapsed. In addition, the Israeli army invaded Beirut killing nearly 20,000 people and that was in 1982. At last, in 1989, a peace deal reached. The wars and the massacres had cost the country a lot. Nearly 200,000 people had died, 3000,000 were wounded, and nearly a quarter left the country. As for the economic, it was paralyzed. Now days, Lebanon is the one of the tourism targets in the Middle East.

Lebanon Now

There are several good signs that indicate the recovery of the social and economic life. The nights are filled with fun again for both the youth and the elders. Restaurants and several shopping malls have been built. The most important indication is that nowadays, Muslims and Christians are living in harmony which a very good thing is considering that it started the chaos. Tourists come from nearly all the world to see Lebanon's culture and sights. Despite having all those good things, there is an "ugly" side for it. Living there is considered very expensive. Plus, Lebanon has one of the highest numbers of cars in the world. That led to an "awful" traffic problems. Another problem is the air pollution.

In conclusion, Lebanon is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. It is true that it suffered a lot threw out the history, but the most important thing is that, Lebanon is still on its feet and will be forever.

Conflict Diamonds

Diamonds are considered one of the "Must Have" things in any women in the world. Diamonds with all its kind goes through many processes from extracting it to selling it in a jewelry store. Nowadays there are several locations where diamonds are found. I will now describe important locations along the trade rout these most valuable of rocks pass.

I will begin with South Africa. It has the biggest diamonds mining company in the world and the name of that company is De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. Most of the diamonds there are mined in South Africa, in one of their 20 mines. The company control two thirds –which is around 67%- of the diamonds in the world. In the early 20th, the company kept their prices high by simply using monopoly. They restricted the amount of diamonds on the market. Another location is Belgium; it has a city which is considered the diamond center for 600 years. That city is Antwerp. In this city, different races are associated with the diamond trade like Indians and Lebanese. In this time, there are about 500 polishers and cutters are left in the city. 80% of the world rough diamonds pass through the city. India is next, as a source of diamonds.90% of the world's rough diamonds are cut and polished in India. They get their rough diamonds from several places like South Africa, from Dee Beer Company and Belgium, from Antwerp. As for workers, they get paid 40 cent for each cut and polished gem. Another country that has a growing reputation as a diamond hub is the United Arab Emirates. To be more specific, Dubai. This emirate has a deal that attracts every diamond trader in the world to the city. The deal is "50 year zero tax holiday diamonds for traders". The diamond business is worth £1 billion in Dubai. Last but not least, The United State of America. There are many artists and pop stars that wear diamonds. One of the famous pop stars is Beyonce.

In conclusion, the business of diamonds has its solid and strong structure in the world and is growing rapidly.