Word: strongman
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After reading the "Farewell" section [Dec. 25, 2006--Jan. 1, 2007], I would like to suggest that next time around you include the loss of infamous notables, like Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic and al-Qaeda's Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, in a separate section titled "Good Riddance...
...Abbas on Sunday declared Hamas's main Gaza security force illegal, while his key security strongman, Mohammed Dahlan, vowed that for every Fatah member killed in the internecine confrontation, his own men would kill two Hamas men. The Islamists responded by vowing to double the size of their security forces and to fight any attempt to disarm them or to oust the government. Following Fatah's mass rally on Sunday in Hamas's Gaza stronghold, Hamas is planning later this week to hold similar shows of strength on the streets of key West Bank cities, traditionally Fatah's stamping ground...
...Many Israelis miss their strongman, but Sharon, in his coma, has outlived his own legacy. His plan to unilaterally redraw Israel's borders heedless of Palestinian wishes has proven a failure; rockets are still spewing out of Gaza. Because of Sharon, Israel is also less secure on its northern front. Already burned by an 18-year occupation of Lebanon, Sharon would probably have refrained from Olmert's blundering all-out attack last summer. But it was on Sharon's watch that Hizballah built up its defenses and smuggled missiles from Iran and Syria. Sharon might not recognize the country...
...Saddam's hanging has removed the last Arab strongman willing to fight the fundamentalists in the name of Arab secularism. (The sole remaining candidate is Syrian President Bashar Assad, but his lack of military clout and key alliance with the non-Arab Islamic Republic of Iran undermine his claim to the mantle.) Nor is there much prospect that liberal Arabs will present a new, democratic alternative any time soon. Instead, in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East, the future increasingly belongs to the Islamic fundamentalists. Judging by the escalating conflicts in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories as well...
...dictator's faults he was at least able to keep his country's sectarian demons in check. As the violence worsened, some argued that the only way to exorcize those demons would be to ditch the democratic process and hand the country back to a Saddam-style strongman. But nobody seriously suggested that Saddam himself be sprung from jail and restored to power. He had become too emasculated to become an ogre again. And without a capacity to cow his people, he could never again control them...