Word: blocs
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...Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki still around? His cabinet seems to be crumbling around him. In April, the bloc allied with Shi'a strongman Moqtada al-Sadr pulled its ministers from Maliki's cabinet in protest of the Prime Minister's reluctance to set a timetable for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. (The head offices in key ministries such as health, education and transportation are still empty.) Then, two weeks ago, four Sunni ministers began boycotting al-Maliki's cabinet meetings to protest an arrest warrant issued for a fellow Sunni minister...
...answer: political acumen and the inability of his detractors to come up with someone among themselves to take his place. Unlike his predecessor, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who was more of an intellectual, Maliki has turned out to be a street-smart politician. He ingratiated himself with the Kurdish bloc when he stood up to aggressive Turkish rhetoric about the Kurdish border in May. He's managed to hold onto the support of the Shi'ite coalition by gingerly two-stepping around the abolition of militias - authorizing coalition and Iraqi troops to fight them in some cities, leaving them largely untouched...
...Realistically, though, Fretilin will have to reach out to the No. 2 party if it wishes to be part of a governing bloc. No one said that democracy would be easy...
...members' lives," says JCP chairman Kazuo Shii. That principled stance earned the respect of many Japanese after the war ended, and JCP members were allowed to run for office. Though the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) would come to control Japanese politics, the JCP provided a reliable leftist opposition bloc with the larger and more mainstream Japan Socialist Party...
...Hamas certainly doesn't think so. Salah Bardaweel, head of Hamas' parliamentary bloc, says he doubts that Blair will be able to "disconnect himself from America and its pro-Israeli policy." That doubt was shared by one senior Arab official at the recent Sharm al-Sheikh summit who said that Blair's appointment is seen around the Middle East as a favor bestowed by the White House in recognition of his loyalty as an ally...