Word: stand-off
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...politicians fighting on the airwaves. For the past few days, the army has vainly tried to prevent some of the clashes, which took place mainly in neighborhoods where Shi'a and Sunni districts meet. Because the country's constitution divides power among the largest religious groups, Lebanon's political stand-off has devolved into a sectarian one, with the main action pitting Shi'a Muslim opposition groups - first among them Hizbollah - against Sunni Muslim government supporters. But the army, which mirrors the country's religious makeup, now appears to be more worried about splitting apart along sectarian lines than...
...Islamist parties have been banned before in Turkey, where strict secularism is enshrined in as a founding constitutional principle. But this time is different: The AKP is far more popular than any of its predecessors; its landslide victory in the election last year - prompted by a stand-off with the powerful generals rejecting the party's nominee for president - was largely a response to economic boom times, but also a sign that Turks are tired of military interference in politics...
...There's no question, of course, that President Bush is accentuating the positive. In Tanzania's northern neighbor, Kenya, corruption and vote-rigging is at the center of a bloody stand-off between the government and the opposition in which 1,000 have died since a disputed general election in December. Notwithstanding the President's comments in Tanzania, the U.S. gives $1 billion a year in aid to a Kenyan government that ranks eighth from the bottom in Transparency International's world corruption tables. Bush has declined to visit Kenya, a key ally in Africa, sending Secretary of State Condoleezza...
...measured but unquestionably tough liberal Democrat, already one of the most famous and respected women in the world, only Hillary is up to the task of leading us out of Iraq, resolving the Iran stand-off, and dealing with events in Afghanistan and Pakistan while re-bonding with our traditional allies...
...trumped-up charges of having willfully infected nearly 440 Libyan children with HIV. In the diplomatic razzle-dazzle that secured their freedom, Sarkozy also managed to leave French companies ideally placed in the race for opportunities to invest in Libya's oil-rich economy. Resolution of the Bulgarian stand-off also removed the last major hurdle for full normalization of diplomatic ties between Libya and the European Union. And the U.S. also wants in on the act: Last month, Washington named its new ambassador to Tripoli, and plans to send Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to visit soon...