ISIS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

ISIS - Essay Example ich has seized significant territories in western and northern Iraq and eastern Syria and established â€Å"caliphate† in accordance with Islamic Law, or Sharia. The history of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria goes back to 1999, which is the year when Tawhid wa al-Jihad, a militant Islamist group, was established by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Jordan. This militant group achieved its ill name due to the numerous attacks on coalition forces, beheadings of hostages and suicide attacks held in Iraq. After the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, al-Zarqawi pledged alliance with al-Qaeda network and changed the name of the organization to al-Qaeda in Iraq (usually referred to as AQI), which became the main force of the insurgency (BBC, 2014). In 2006, the leader of the organization died, and AQI created an umbrella organization named Islamic State in Iraq. During 2006-2007, the group lost support of the population because of violent attacks committed by the members of the organization. As a result, AQI found itself in a deep crisis as it was isolated its supporters. However, 2010 can be regarded as the year of revival of the organization as its new leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, restored the capabilities and reputation of the Islamic State (BBC, 2014). It was in April 2013 that al-Baghdadi made the merge of his forces in Syria and Iraq public and announced the establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. In the end of 2013, the organization focused on the conflict between the Sunni Arab community and the government and took control over Fallujah with the help of tribesmen. In June 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant seized Mosul and advanced to Baghdad. In this very month, the organization changed its name to the Islamic State, and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the creation of caliphate, a state led by one and the only political and religious leader (BBC, 2014). There is no certain data on the area controlled by the organization. For

Three policies that led to the outbreak of War in Europe in 1914. What Essay

Three policies that led to the outbreak of War in Europe in 1914. What nation is primary responisble - Essay Example For instance, Germany established aggressive foreign policies that created unhealthy relationship with other nations. The policies deteriorated the existing peaceful trading partnerships and eventually led to the poor performance of the international market. The three policies that fuelled the war were; the Germany’s expansionist policy, the emergence of two opposing sides (the triple alliance and the triple alliance) and the isolation policy. Germany had a great urge to dominate the world economy. The only means to achieve this was by acquiring more territories and colonies. By this time, the world was portioned among the major powers such as the Britain. In this regard, Germany had to use military conquest to acquire territories that were already possessed by other European nations. The use of force to acquire new territories strained the already poor relation between Germany and some European powers such as Britain. These nations responded furiously to defend their interest and to maintain their political and economic power. This eventually led to the sprouting of a massive war that spread to almost all parts of the world. Some countries in Europe started forming defense alliances and promised to protect each other in case any of them was attacked by their rivals. For instance, Germany and Austria-Hungary joined and formed the dual alliance. Italy joined the alliance, and the three formed the triple alliance. On the other hand, Britain, France and Russian joined to form the triple entente. These two coalitions heightened the tension among the rival European nations leading to the sparking of the World War 1. The isolation policy adopted USA also contributed to the sprouting of the war. The US kept off from engaging in European affairs and thereby cold not assist in reconciling the European nations. However, it offered financial support to warring nations. The responsibility of the war can be blamed on Germany’s ultimate support for

Discussion Board Question for criminal justice Essay

Discussion Board Question for criminal justice - Essay Example If Simpson was poor and Caucasian, the likelihood of him being found guilty of murder is as high as they would be for a black of medium wealth. My views on race have changed after an analysis of the DNA structure of people from different races. This test revealed that, however different people of different race may appear, the differences in genetics between them are negligible. After this, I shall take the racial and ethnic differences as lightly as possible given that they are not determinants to anything in life. Unlike in the past, today’s society has drawn dividing lines between people of different illnesses, political orientation, sexuality and addictions. On the basis of sex, many women are prevented from attaining positions in society that they could comfortably fulfill without the barriers set up by society. Political affiliations also determine the success of an individual especially on a business perspective. In terms of illnesses, many of those suffering from lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and arthritis are secretly discriminated against. Those with addictions such as alcoholics and drug addicts are generally viewed as unfortunate members of society who cannot stand up for themselves in many ways. A course in Ethnic Groups and Minorities is of course necessary given that Obama’s rise to the top is one is a million story of a member of the minority groups breaking free of the stereotypes labeled against his group. Stereotypes have changed by a very small degree given that, even today, racial conflicts still show up in isolated cases. The discrimination in today’s society is more secretive as people fear being labeled as enemies of unity. The fact that America elected and African American to the presidency does not in any way mean that America is ready for elections to office of other minorities. Obama’s story is quite dramatic and his entry into the highest office on the land was aided by his having faced weaker

On the Free

On the Free Choice of the Will Essay This book by St Augustine contains many philosophical arguments. St Augustine was a Latin speaking philosopher born in what is now modern day Algeria. He was one of the most prolific philosophers with hundreds of surviving works attributed to him (having survived the passage of time). The book On Free choice of the will contains may divine references with the central argument concerning free will as a gift from god, a gift which leads to humans becoming evil due their own inherent flaws. Free will is a large theme in the book. I will be critically analyzing Augustine’s argument that ‘†¦ a mind that is in control, one that possesses virtue, cannot be made a slave to inordinate desire by anything equal or superior to it, because such a thing would be just, or by anything inferior to it, because such a thing would be too weak’1 . I will be looking at the weaknesses and strengths of this argument and conclude how convincing his argument is. Augustine’s first argument about the mind being made a slave to inordinate desire contains many flaws its states â€Å"Each mind possesses the same degree of excellence and any thing that would attempt such a thing will have fallen from justice and become weaker† 2(originally said by Evodius but Augustine agrees to it) in this he is essentially saying that any mind attempting to enslave another mind to an inordinate desire will have become unjust and in the process weaker meaning it cannot control the superior mind. The first problem with this argument is the premise that all minds posses the same degree of excellence, this notion is completely wrong as it would be illogical to assume that all humans are intellectually equal. The fact that the foundation of the argument is wrong could serve to debase the entire argument as it is a paramount (and erroneous) notion upon which the argument is built. Augustine’s argument states â€Å"a Mind cannot be enslaved by something equal or superior to it because that thing would be just† 3 Not only does this statement destroy his previous notion that all minds are equal it also contains many faults on its own. Firstly its assumes that a mind that is superior would be just this assumption contains many problems. Firstly it assumes that the smarter you are the more just you would be, this statement is quite the contrary the smarter you are the more likely you are to be able to manipulate and scheme making you unjust, one can only look at politicians to see that the more intelligent you are the more susceptible you would be to carrying out unjust acts, so in my opinion this statement can be easily refuted. It is quite logical to assume that the superior mind will be more likely to try and enslave another mind for some purpose or another. One can only look at the peace among intellectual inferior animals which do not commit a multitude of nefarious acts in order to further themselves, contrast this with the chaos amongst humans and one can begin to see that the superior mind is truly less just than the inferior mind, humans have pride and ambition which engenders greed and other destructive traits, these are not seen in animals and babies (both of whom have inferior minds) and galvanizes the notion that a superior mind is less just than a weaker one. The next part of his argument that an inferior mind cannot enslave a superior mind because it will be weaker, contains much more logic than his previous arguments. I would not say this statement is wholly correct but the notion that a weak mind cannot enslave a superior mind is mostly correct in my opinion as it is logical to assume that weak cannot overcome the strong. On the other hand to completely write off a weak minds chances of enslaving a superior mind would be foolish as many other factors are involved in this process including emotions and circumstance, for example if a man with a superior mind is in love with a woman who possesses an inferior mind he could still be enslaved to inordinate desire by virtue of his love for her which will have warped his reason. Hence under some circumstances a weak mind can over come a superior mind yet it would be prudent to assume that a superior mind will always have the upper hand barring external factors. Finally in my opinion there is a huge inherent flaw in the entire argument of Augustine, I believe that pride, ambition, gluttony and all other various inordinate desires are inherent in humans in general, I do not believe it is necessary for a mind to sway another into these desires as they already exist within the human being, it is environmental factors which sway a human being into experiencing these inordinate desires not people and as a result I believe that Augustine’s arguments are fundamentally flawed. He takes a very idealistic view on humans believing them to only corruptible due to other unjust people corrupting them. In truth I believe (unfortunately) that humans are more inclined to feel inordinate desires due to extenuating factors that catalyze their latent emotions that lead to the dire consequences that are engendered by inordinate desires. In conclusion I believe Augustine’s arguments are mediocre. Their strengths are far and few and hugely outweighed by the flaws In them. His arguments while appearing logical and reasonable contain many imperceptible cracks which can be exploited greatly (and at times can debase his entire argument) in the case of a debate. On the basis of this I would have to say that his arguments are mediocre at best and while they are somewhat convincing a wise man would see through them easily.

Discussion about the Play “A Raisin in the Sun” Essay Example for Free

Discussion about the Play â€Å"A Raisin in the Sun† Essay If the dreams between people clashed in a way that their desires are going towards different unparallel directions, will it be a significant factor that can suggest that the dream will no longer be achieved? Or will it remain to be a matter of what to do and dependent with the ability to adapt with all the situations – To create a new one or to stay as a victim of the failure that happened? Moreover, it can be the test of whether the dream will be created by a person or the situations like failures will create the dreamers. Either way, it is up to the dreamer which one he will allow to happen. The play A Raisin in the Sun portrayed a family bound with dreams, subjected for possibility and risks of failures and tended to stand up once again to bound themselves again with different dreams and start all over. Situations had become too oppressive that they found themselves sometimes, in the midst of dilemmas that are more likely to be considered as lack of options. Each members of the family has repressed wish that distinguished their character from another. In a way, this is the typical American family with their economical and social structure and reacting normally with the involvement of the other big factor that made the twist of the story – the factor of Money. With the flow of the story, the struggles the family had in dealing with their situations after the death of the father caused them to create the ideal situations in their head of what needs to be done. There remained their intentions to have better life for their family and better life for themselves individually. This later tested their grasp with their family ties. With the individual conception of what is good, what can only go wrong is the inability to be in alignment of what you wanted with what other family members wanted. It can also become a consequent question of whether you hold fast to your dreams or hold on to the bigger picture of what needs to be done as part of the family (Mintz and Kellogg 38). The characters of the play supplied the dreamers role and collectively, a set of contrasting roles carrying ideas and subjects. Set in mid 1800’s, the story was centered in the dreams of the Younger Family and clashes with prejudices that the characters had as they strive to have a better position in their community as a whole. Perspective to be used in the Analysis There are schools of thoughts that are highly applicable with the study of the family being portrayed in this play written by Lorraine Hansberry: first, we can see it in the perspective using functionalism or second, it can be through interactionism. Later, this will be used to reveal how the dreams are being formed and what the motivations that determined the creation of these dreams are. These are the schools that traced the families in America with their way of being developed, managed and designed. The material variable in the family structure can be seen through the role they are playing and be analyzed objectively. Also, we can also see it from the perspective of an interactionist who is primarily concerned with the way the people are acting in response to other people or situations. Yes, these schools have difference with the primary objects of their concern, but essentially they contribute with the thorough understanding with the functions and interactions aspect of a family (Hamilton 47). It can give us the ideas of where the dreams of the characters in the story are actually directed. The Dreamers, their Motivations, and the Clash It all started with Ten Thousand Dollars. The characters of the play provided the audiences with the humanistic range of possible thought process that can be derived from a single source of stimulus. There was an emphasis given earlier with the role of Money in this story for this is the stimulus that moved the characters to make their stand. The money pertains to the $10,000 insurance amount that Lena Younger, the maternal character not just a mother figure, got after her husband passed away. Lena is also called Mama in the story and she possessed the maternal qualities that exhibit a picture of a loving, caring, and understanding woman. Such a woman only has one goal in life – To make her children happy or happier with all of her ability. The material figure that conveyed this goal of Mama is the house that she bought for $3,000. It symbolizes the unity, stability, and economical status that she believes to be important for her family (Morrin and Hansberry 35-38). The picture of the house portrayed the whole dream of Lena. It extends from the social ground of its manifestation to the subtle emotion a mother could possibly feel. This dream clashes with her son’s concerns. Walter, the son, has concerns about the Money that can be categorized as the dream for continuous economic stability of the family. When it comes with the nature of his character, he can be the figure that represents masculine authority of the story. He supplied the protagonist role but with his racial prejudices paired with his conflicts while performing both role of a son and a husband makes him supply his own contrast as an antagonist. Walter became not excited about the house bought by Mama. He has ulterior motives for the money and had a clear image in his mind on what to do with the money. For quite a long time, he has a dream of participating in a business involved in Liquor products (Morrin and Hansberry 47). As a masculine role, the story puts more authority in Walter’s hand as he got the control over the Insurance money and managed it. Lena put his trust on Walter and this shows how Lena is more than willing to give whatever her child wants. Though this doesn’t show any touch of negligence in her part. The acquisition process of the dream in this context doesn’t have any conflict yet. The conflict happened with the aftermath of the decision that placed Walter in the position of higher authority with the Money. The first clash of dream is done with the two given characters and the structure of both dreams must be observed carefully. We can notice the function of money ranges from how it fueled the quest for the dream to the conflict the two characters had. The conflict didn’t last since one of these two dreams was restructured. Lena, whose dream is to provide what her children wanted still managed to achieve it in a way by fueling Walter’s procedure of achieving his dream. There was a conflict because the functions of the house Lena bought don’t go with the alignment of Walter’s dream. It was settled because Lena followed that alignment as a response without violating her desires that is basically structured solely for the happiness of her children. The other child of Lena is Beneatha, the twenty year old woman, who had dream of being a physician. She is considered as intellectual and also an ambitious college student and required Money for the matriculation of the course. The conflicts Beneatha had are related to the money she required for her education and this is directed to Walter who has the control over it. Her sole dream of becoming a doctor will be compromised without the money. She got mad at Walter when she learned that Walter did not put any amount for her study. It seems like a big turnaround from all of her aspirations and she went depressed. This clash is apparently hard for Beneatha since, if money is the fuel for her actions in making her dreams realized, then it is a big contrast to have none of it. Her dream almost vanished. How did she turn out to continue seeing hoe despite of what happened? There is another character named Asagai who became the voice of realization. He made Beneatha realized the key thing about this vision of the dream she formed in her head. The dream had already been in her thoughts even prior to the death of his father, so it means that equating money to her dream is a big nuisance. It would be similar to the terrible equation of his father’s death hand in hand with the money. This showed that there remained to be ways on how it could be fulfilled without that so-called fuel of money. It can be money coming from different source instead. Beneatha realized this important thing, found her hope, continued dreaming. With the structure of their dreams, it is apparent that money equates house, then money equates liquor store and finally, money equated matriculation. With its many form, money remained to be the prime motivation that was shown in the play. The big question would be, along this clash of dreams, for how long can money control or determine the actions of the characters? On the mid part of the play, Walter was betrayed by his business partner leaving him with no money. There came the confrontations with Walter and the other characters especially with his wife, Ruth, who was also driven by dreams of having financial stability. It made them start from the scratch and all realizations that they need were established. Money is just a motivation but never a determinant of the quality of life that a harmonious family could have. Moreover, the dreams are manifestations that we are living while seeking whatever we want out of life. Money is not much important although, yes, it rates reasonably as oxygen. Lorraine Hansberry’s approach in tackling the concept of American dream showed that Money can either be seen as a fuel or an obstacle. The dreams that we have though is a picture of what we can do. At the same time as what we can see in the play is the motivation that money can give us but it doesn’t match the quality of motivation that important people can give. Works Cited Hamilton, Peter. Reconsidering Blummer’s Corrective Against the excess of Functionalism. Talcott Parsons: critical assessments. 4 (1992), 47-49 Mintz, Steven and Kellogg, Susan. Domestic revolutions: a social history of American family life. New York: The Free Press, 1988 Morrin, Maxine and Hansberry, Lorraine. A raisin in the sun. USA: Research and Education Association, 1994.

The multiple challenges facing the retail banking industry

The multiple challenges facing the retail banking industry Retail banking is facing multiple challenges. These challenges have been categorized in 5 different sources. Security, Decrease cost, Mergers and acquisitions, Regulatory compliance and Revenue growth. (McCormick, Edson, Natesan, 2007) These variables are also linked to efficacy and efficiency of a service sector. They have also argued that with the increase in access points efficiency is being affected and security concerns have been increased to a greater extent. The basic reason behind this point is customer identity is anonymous at these new access points. The anonymity is responsible for increasing crimes and fraudulent which is the major security concern. Novell provides hardware and software management system which helps to increase efficiency in retail banking sector. Manual processes leads to increasing cost of compliance and further leads to regulatory and compliance violence and corporate reputation risk (McCormick, Edson, Natesan, 2007). As a measure of efficiency revenue growth can be measured as function of excellence. Merger and acquisition is the crisis situation which impacts the retail bank sector from recovering losses for 3 months average taken from Retail Banking Technology Trends survey Dec.2006. Novell has developed a system which is concerned towards operational excellence as well as regulatory compliance and security as a function of Retail Bank efficiency. In majority of countries that can be classified as transition economy, foreign capital controls an increasing share of the banking sector (Weill, 2003). This research is based on comparative analysis of efficiency of foreign owned and domestic owned banks. Furthermore (Weill, 2003) has concluded that efficiency of banks with foreign ownership is higher than the efficiency of local banks. Parametric approaches, such as the stochastic frontier approach, use econometric tools to estimate the efficiency frontier have been used for the study as it provides room for random errors. Few of variables used in (Weill, 2003) are Personnel and interest expenses, Price of labor, Investment assets etc. While considering the cost efficiency foreign ownership has influenced positively on the banks in countries with transition economies (Weill, 2003). The reason behind it is that foreign banks have better know how of the working and better corporate governance. This research has left a room for further study on origin of advantages of a foreign owned bank. (OKEAHALAM, 2008) has argued that internationalization increases competition in the banking sector and effects efficiency. However a study has been conducted showing larger but inefficient banks of Namibia and smaller yet efficient banks of Tanzania. Policy makers should ensure that entrants have high quality management and will transfer technology and skills. This finding is consistent with entry and behavior based primarily on the desire to transfer a monopoly structure and derive economic rents (OKEAHALAM, 2008). Key finding from the study of Namibia and Tanzania is that lack of competition has made efficiency vulnerable. Another unusual thing can be concluded that foreign entry essentially does not make markets more competitive or efficient. Market only becomes competitive when it is already concentrated with local or foreign banks. Another article discusses that customer efficiency increases with greater self service utilization. In case of self service input cost of retail bank is decreased. This issue exactly mirrors the concern in the firm productivity literature that focuses on methods for à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"explainingà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚  multifactor productivity of firms given that it is also measured as a residual concept. (Xue, Hitt, Harker, Customer Efficiency, Channel Usage, and Firm Performance in Retail Banking, 2007) Possible explanations for the differing efficiency scores for the majors and regional banks are diversification, technological change, organizational restructuring, different customer bases, and the effects of the globalization of financial services (KIRKWOOD NAHM, 2006). This study further concluded that efficiency of major banks is increasing. Their productivity has also increased a lot whereas regional banks are in danger their efficiency is decreasing and profits are shrinking. This decreased productivity is directly proportional to banking efficiency in Australian banks. This trend can be used in my study to gauge the tangible factors and their effect in Pakistani Market. Another research of Xue related to customer efficiency show that self-service through the Internet has a significant migration effect on personal service and, consequently, saves service delivery costs and improves customer efficiency. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we find no evidence that increasing levels of self-service damage customer relationships (Xue, Customer efficiency: Concept and its impact on service management, 2002). Thus Internet or Virtual Banking services are adding on value to the efficacy and productivity of retail banking services. ATMà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s, Debit Cards, Credit cards, Online Cheque writing facilities, Pay Orders, Demand drafts, Online Banking and all the possible technologically advanced instruments effect the preferences of consumer in selection of a service provider bank. Therefore output relies on customer base which is element of efficacy. Concluding remarks can be technology change has direct relation to banking efficiency. After reading all articles it can be concluded that efficiency is very broad term and handling all variables will make research complex. Therefore to get more accurate result it is necessary to shortlist few variables. (NEAL, 2004) has used ROA (Return on Asset) as a measure of efficiency for measuring it from 1995-1999 in Australian Banking case. He has used product of net margin and asset utilization to gauge this variable. The data shows better results for national banks as compared to regional ones. This research is Australia based and focuses on national and regional bank. However corporate and consumer banking has not been separated. The variable ROA in fact can be used for both retail as well as corporate banking. (Hassan Isik, 2002) mentions that previously cost efficiency or input saving efficiency were used to measure the efficiency of banks in Turkish researches. This study is the first to focus on output side inefficiency along with input side inefficiency in Turkish banking, using the so-called stochastic frontier approach. The approach behind using it is that Profit is the key while bank is making losses with less or even same input. Profits are the outlook and are punished even when input becomes costly. On evaluating Turkish banks by both criteria Turkish banks becomes efficient while evaluating by profit efficiency methods.

The History And Contributions :: essays research papers

Greek Geometry Although the original roots of geometry can be traced to the Egyptians, the Greeks built on most Egyptian theories that we use today. Greek astronomy and Greek geometry were both used in order to answer many difficult questions of the time. Without geometry, the study of astronomy would have been almost impossible, and vice versa. Even though many Greek theorems and principles were later built on by geniuses such as Einstein and Lobachevsky, the basis still remains the same. The development of Greek geometry is said to be started by Thales of Miletus. Thales came from Egypt with a number of geometric principles that the Greeks were able to use for practical purposes. He lived towards the beginning of the sixth century B.C, and has been credited with many geometric theorems. Some of the most important theorems developed by Thales included: -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If two triangles have two angles and one side is respectively equal, then both triangles are congruent to each other. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Angles at the base of any isosceles triangle are equal. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If two straight lines intersect, then the opposite angles formed are equal. Thales also did much work with the height of pyramids by measuring the height of the pyramid's shadow only at a specific time of the day. While most of his theorems were proven, some that were not pertained to a ship's distance from shore and the bisector of a circle. His discoveries led to the formation of many other theorems by later Greeks such as Pythagoras and Plato. These two men (next to Thales) contributed the most to Greek geometry. Pythagoras discovered and proved many different theorems and ideas that contributed greatly to the development of geometry. Some of Pythagoras's proven discoveries included: -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  All of the angles in a triangle add up to the sum of two right angles. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The development and use of geometrical algebra. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The theorem of Pythagoras. a^2 + b^2 = c^2 Pythagoras also did many studies with triangles and developing or editing shapes. His most famous discovery was the Pythagorean theorem (listed above). This theorem combined the sides of a right triangle, and this led to the development of irrational numbers by Pythagoras later on. Pythagoras discovered that the square root of 2 was an irrational number. Plato, another great mind of Greece, did more than just develop theorems for geometry, he stressed that geometry was essential. Plato believed that everyone should be well educated in mathematics as well as geometry.