Geopolitical context Essay Example for Free

Geopolitical context Essay Syriana (2005) was directed by Stephen Gaghan and was produced by George Clooney, who also starred in it. The film, loosely adapted from Robert Baers memoir, See No Evil, is a thriller which focuses on contemporary themes and is highly relevant in todays geopolitical context. It tells four parallel stories, and the audience is taken on a lightning-paced, often confusing ride from Texas to Washington D. C. to Switzerland to Spain to the Middle East. This places it into the genre of hyperlink cinema, where storylines and characters interact subtly and events in one storyline have a distinct effect on other story lines, but the characters are not aware of this fully. Gaghans Syriana is similar in treatment to the documentary feel of Steven Soderberghs Traffic, which was written by Gaghan. While the latter had drug trade exposure as its main theme, both used interlocking stories to take the viewer on a spell-binding ride, which keeps throwing curves till the very end. The ensemble films central theme is petroleum politics and the widespread influence of the oil industry. Key plotlines focus on the political, economic, legal and social ramifications of this industry on CIA agent Bob Barnes (George Clooney) who is highly experienced in the Middle East but his stellar reputation is tainted by his failure in a mission involving missiles in Beirut, an energy analyst Bryan Woodman (Matt Damon) who is a friend of the Persian Gulf Prince Nasir Al-Subaai but suffers owing to this association, a lawyer in Washington Bennett Holiday (Jeffrey Wright) who is investigating the merger of two oil companies and Wasim Khan (Mazhar Munir), a Pakistani immigrant working for an oil company in an Arab country, which later fires him. The acting is top-notch and there is not a trace of bad acting in this movie. Clooney plays a man who has been exhausted by the CIAs war on Middle East terrorism, who on one hand is trying hard to get his son through college, and on the other has the power to order the assassination of the Persian Gulf Price because he chose China over the U. S. in an oil transaction. His acting has a hypnotic quality to it which stays with the viewer even after the final credits are rolled. Matt Damon also gives a brilliant performance who, much to his wifes horror, is perfectly willing to exploit the accidental death of his son in the Princes house for his own benefit. Tim Blake Nelson who plays Danny Dalton, the right-hand man of the executive at one of the oil companies involved in the merger, must also be mentioned for his amazing timing in the scene where he extols the safe and warm qualities of corruption. Syriana falls short of being a great movie, and ranks somewhere above average on the quality scale. The screen play is gripping, the dialogue sharp and the debates all those which gained relevance in the post 9/11 environment and stay so till now. The movie succeeds at telling its viewers how they should stop trying to understand the oil industry, because the real story is so complex it might not even be properly grasped by oil company executives, Arab monarchy, CIA agents or energy brokers anywhere in the world. The screenplay and direction both reflect a certain intelligence and the quality of research is impeccable. There are a number of individual scenes which contain an almost fierce power and energy in them, but they dont thread together the movie as a whole. The problem I faced with Syriana was that while I was spellbound throughout the duration of the movie, the various intermingled storylines confused me and I felt this happen more so because the characters in the movie itself are confused by the events around them and do not know exactly what kind of situations theyre involved in. The confusion of characters might have been written in the script, but in this particular case, it got passed on to the audience as well, which was in most probability, not the intention of the director. Another issue with the multifaceted stories were that some characters and plotlines were more developed and interesting, such as those of Matt Damon and George Clooney, while others, such as Jeffery Wrights could not impress, even with Wrights brilliant potential, simply because he just got about twenty minutes of screentime. Hence, while parts of the movie were good, they did not add up to a rewarding whole. Syriana is similar to Traffic in its aesthetic appeal: it has not been shot in a studio, rather to ensure the believability of the movie, production took place all around the globe to capture the true essence of the stunning landscapes and inimitable societies it would be depicting. The entire movie has been shot using a pair of hand-held cameras, which give the film its unique quasi-documentary feel and helps in providing context for some of the issues discussed in the movie. The movie is worth the two hours spent watching it, however, one ends up feeling that it was too ambitious a project where the execution could not deliver all that it was expected to. Nevertheless, Gaghans effort is commendable and the narrative of the oil industry is definitely eye-opening. His approach of not explaining everything and leaving the viewer to decide the right and wrong of it makes this movie a tough nut: gripping, complex, confusing and yet fascinating till the end.

Nature vs. Nurture and the Developing Theory of Nature via Nurture Essa

Outline Thesis: At the moment, there is no definitive answer to the question of nature vs. nurture, there is, however, compelling evidence that the theory of Nature via. Nurture could be the solution. I. Introduction A. Nature versus Nurture II. Nature vs. Nurture A. Nature: Genetic Factors 1. Nature Defined 2. Genes Defined 3. Human Genome Project B. Nurture: Environmental Factors 1. Nurture Defined 2. Biological and Social Environment C. Behavioral Genetics III. Twins A. Twins Defined B. Types of Twins 1. Identical Twins 2. Fraternal Twins C. Twin Studies 1. Definition and Validity 2. The Skeptics of Twin Studies and Their Concerns 3. Minnesota Twin Study of Twins Reared Apart 4. Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (SATSA) 5. Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development (NEAD) D. Twin Stories 1. Jim Twins 2. Beth and Amy 3. Harold and Bernard Shapiro 4. Judith and Julie Swain 5. Charlie and Bill Duke IV. Nature via Nurture V. Heritability A. Definition B. Personality C. Intelligence D. Toxic Environment E. Disease and Mental Illness VI. Political and Social Ramifications A. Biological Determinism VII. Conclusion An Introduction to Nature vs. Nurture and the Developing Theory of Nature via Nurture Are we exclusively the creation of nature or the reflection of nurture? The first attempt to study nature and nurture was published by Sir Francis Galton in 1865. (Plomin, 2004) Galton wanted to know how to measure intelligence, what the components were and the degree to which it was inherited. (Santrock, 2004) He would be the first of many researchers to question the role of heredity. The first twin and adoption studies were published in 1924 by Sophie Van Senden Theis. (Plomin, ... ...nce on life events during the last half of the life span. Psychology and Aging. 5(1), 25-30. Plomin, R., Reiss, D.R., Hetherington, E.M., Howe, G.W. (1994) Nature and nurture: genetic contributions to measures of the family environment. Developmental Psychology. 30(1), 32-43. Ridley, M. (2003). What makes you who you are. Time. 161(22), 54-60. Santrock, J.W. (2004). Child development. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies. Segal, N. L. (1999). Entwined lives: Twins and what they tell us about human behavior. New York: Dutton Segal, N. L. (1999). New twin studies show: The career of your dreams may be the career of your genes. Psychology Today, 32(5), 54-8. Wright, L. (1997). Twins and what they tell us about who we are. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Wyatt, J. W. (1993). Identical Twins, Emergenesis, and Environments. American Psychologist. 1294-1295. Nature vs. Nurture and the Developing Theory of Nature via Nurture Essa Outline Thesis: At the moment, there is no definitive answer to the question of nature vs. nurture, there is, however, compelling evidence that the theory of Nature via. Nurture could be the solution. I. Introduction A. Nature versus Nurture II. Nature vs. Nurture A. Nature: Genetic Factors 1. Nature Defined 2. Genes Defined 3. Human Genome Project B. Nurture: Environmental Factors 1. Nurture Defined 2. Biological and Social Environment C. Behavioral Genetics III. Twins A. Twins Defined B. Types of Twins 1. Identical Twins 2. Fraternal Twins C. Twin Studies 1. Definition and Validity 2. The Skeptics of Twin Studies and Their Concerns 3. Minnesota Twin Study of Twins Reared Apart 4. Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging (SATSA) 5. Nonshared Environment in Adolescent Development (NEAD) D. Twin Stories 1. Jim Twins 2. Beth and Amy 3. Harold and Bernard Shapiro 4. Judith and Julie Swain 5. Charlie and Bill Duke IV. Nature via Nurture V. Heritability A. Definition B. Personality C. Intelligence D. Toxic Environment E. Disease and Mental Illness VI. Political and Social Ramifications A. Biological Determinism VII. Conclusion An Introduction to Nature vs. Nurture and the Developing Theory of Nature via Nurture Are we exclusively the creation of nature or the reflection of nurture? The first attempt to study nature and nurture was published by Sir Francis Galton in 1865. (Plomin, 2004) Galton wanted to know how to measure intelligence, what the components were and the degree to which it was inherited. (Santrock, 2004) He would be the first of many researchers to question the role of heredity. The first twin and adoption studies were published in 1924 by Sophie Van Senden Theis. (Plomin, ... ...nce on life events during the last half of the life span. Psychology and Aging. 5(1), 25-30. Plomin, R., Reiss, D.R., Hetherington, E.M., Howe, G.W. (1994) Nature and nurture: genetic contributions to measures of the family environment. Developmental Psychology. 30(1), 32-43. Ridley, M. (2003). What makes you who you are. Time. 161(22), 54-60. Santrock, J.W. (2004). Child development. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies. Segal, N. L. (1999). Entwined lives: Twins and what they tell us about human behavior. New York: Dutton Segal, N. L. (1999). New twin studies show: The career of your dreams may be the career of your genes. Psychology Today, 32(5), 54-8. Wright, L. (1997). Twins and what they tell us about who we are. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Wyatt, J. W. (1993). Identical Twins, Emergenesis, and Environments. American Psychologist. 1294-1295.

What’s wrong with Walmart?

Adding to the articles provided in the class, I chose â€Å"Walmart Mexico Bribery Case† and â€Å"Walmart Offers Jobs to Veterans†. Reading these articles, I once more thought that Walmart is a huge company. Walmart employs about 1. 4 million people in the United States. They operate more than 10,800 retail units under 69 banners in 27 countries. In 2013, the magazine ‘Fortune’ ranked Walmart as a biggest company in the United States. These numbers all show that Walmart is a large company and it is hard to operate. Walmart have a central office in Arkansas, and the chief executive and board member make all the important decisions and policy of the company. However, if the company has so many employees and the shops, it is difficult to control all the employees. Thus in the ‘Pollutant Dumping Case’, the Walmart California store improperly disposed hazardous waste. The central office had a comprehensive and industry-leading hazardous waste program, but this issue made it clear that some of the workers were not aware how to handle hazardous waste. Additionally, the other article was about the Walmart protest movement. At first, I did not know about the OUR Walmart, but I was surprised to find this organization. I could not find out how big the organization is, but the existence of OUR Walmart itself tells us that Walmart have many workers and the worker’s opinion is hard to reach to the chief executive. As a result they make protest movements to claim for better wages and improved working conditions. All in all, the recent Walmart issue is the evidence that the central office is struggling to control all of the shops in the U. S. and the other countries. All of the big companies with shops in many locations will suffer to manage the workers. To solve this problem it is necessary to make manual, guidelines, instructions, hotlines, help lines, and audits. If the company failed to make these systems and have a high commitment with the top manager, the company will likely to corrupt or make mistakes like Walmart.

Case Analysis Mistress Carla Faces Prostitution Trial

There were two articles about me in competing local newspapers on June 13, 1984. The Miami Herald’s headline read, Mistress Carla Faces Prostitution Trial, while the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel (formerly the Fort Lauderdale News) declared, Judge OK’s Police Actions. Journalists and photographers of both major local newspapers didn t miss any opportunity to blast my name and photos for the world to see. My involvement with the State of Florida had ended up in a political witch-trial with much fire, magnitude, and media coverage. My lawyer said in his career he had never had a file as thick, or a case which had turned as dirty as mine. Several articles about my legal battle were covered in the front page of the Metro section of the†¦show more content†¦I know I promised you no jail time but I never thought the cops and the state attorney would take this so far. We need to find expert witnesses who will testify at your trial.† â€Å"What will they testify to?† â€Å"They can educate the jury as to the socially redeeming qualities and psychological aspects of domination and what you do. What happens in your dungeon has nothing to do with prostitution. I know it’s expensive and your funds are low but you’re going to have to come up with the money. It would be good to have a professional jury picker too. That’s someone, usually a psychologist, who can help me during voir dire identify the jurors who will be most sympathetic to you.† â€Å"How much are you talking about, Dennis?† â€Å"Twenty grand, at least.† My attorney replied. â€Å"And this is on top of your fee?† I inquired with a gulp in my throat. â€Å"Yes.† Dennis responded quickly with a serious look on his face. I sat motionless and dumbfounded in one of the burgundy, leather-bound arm chairs in front of Dennis desk. The more he spoke, the more muffled his voice sounded, with intermittent parts of words deafening. I could smell his potent, Gucci cologne mixed with a slight scent of the furniture polish. In the distant background, the piped in music was softly playing one of my very favorite oldies from 1959, a tune my grandmother loved to listen to called Only You, by Franck Pourcel’ s French Fiddles. After Dennis’s declaration that not only