15 February 2013

tutelage

[toot-l-ij, tyoot-]

noun

1. the act of guarding, protecting, or guiding; office or function of a guardian; guardianship.
2. instruction; teaching; guidance: His knowledge of Spanish increased under private tutelage.
3. the state of being under a guardian or a tutor.

Origin:
1595–1605; < Latin tūtēl ( a ) guardianship (derivative of tuērī to watch; see tuition) + -age

Synonyms
2. direction, supervision, tutoring, coaching.

Today’s aphorism

Perhaps if I make myself write I shall find out what is wrong with me.

– Dodie Smith

On this day

15 February 1989 – the last Soviet troops leave Afghanistan after a 10 year occupation referred to as the Soviet Union’s ‘Vietnam’. The Soviets had invaded on 24 December 1979 in response to Afghan insurgents (armed by the United States) who had been attacking Soviet troops. The occupation lasts for 10 years and results in the deaths of between 600,000 and 2,000,000 Afghan civilians, as well as 6,000,000 refugees who fled to Pakistan and Iran. The cost of the Afghan occupation is a significant factor that led to the economic collapse of the Soviet Union. During the Soviet occupation, the United States funded Afghan resistance in the form of the Mujahideen and other militant Islamic groups, out of whom emerged Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The Afghan people continue to suffer and to comprise a significant portion of global refugee numbers because of the involvement of the USSR and the USA during this period.