Word: clans
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...front-runners? Five out of six contenders are figureheads whose job is to make the election look presentable, observers say. Though clan leaders involved with natural gas, cotton and other businesses all have power aspirations, they have given way to one candidate endorsed by the late dictator's powerful security apparatus: Deputy Premier Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov. The morning after the dictator's death, the Speaker of the National Parliament - who, under the Constitution, was to become acting President - was dismissed and arrested. The Constitution did not allow new Acting President Berdymukhammedov to run in the February election, but the rubber-stamp...
...break the deadlock, since besides the thorny political issues at stake - recognition of Israel, control over public finances and whether to release a seemingly forgotten captive Israeli soldier - Gaza's problems, especially after the latest round of fighting, go far beyond politics. The culture of blood feuds at a clan level is well entrenched in Gaza, and dozens of angry families are unlikely to forgive those who killed their sons, brothers and nephews just because politicians declare the conflict resolved. And since the Israeli withdrawal in summer, 2005, Gaza is awash in weapons smuggled in from Egypt...
...more confrontational attitude towards Hamas, Washington is gravely overestimating the Palestinian president's power. "The Americans have the false impression that he controls his forces. He doesn't," says one senior member of Abbas's Fatah movement, who claims that it is fractured into dozens of gangs based on clan and patronage networks. The loyalty of these forces to Abbas is questionable, Fatah sources say. The Bush Administration has promised $86 million in aid to shore up Abbas's support, and Gaza sources say his fighters took delivery last week of six armored vehicles sent via Israel and Egypt, which...
...Prime Minister, Ali Mohammed Gedi, pleads eloquently for assistance. He also recognizes that no outside support will be sufficient if his government fails to rise above the clans. "It is a fully inclusive government," he declares. But few buy his rhetoric. "He is not consulting us," says Ugas Abdullah Ugas Farah, chairman of all Somalia's tribes. "That means clanism. And that means the man with the biggest gun is in charge." Mohamed Uluso, a clan leader from the Ayr tribe, adds: "There is no basic trust. The government is not reaching out to anyone. The people are charged...
There is also still resentment toward the entire Manning clan over the way Eli manipulated the 2004 NFL draft, forcing the San Diego Chargers to trade him to the Giants because he refused to play for what was then a losing team. The Chargers still accuse the Manning family of meddling in the negotiations, though Archie has denied that. Eli has struggled for the Giants, while the quarterback for whom he was traded, Philip Rivers, made the Pro Bowl this year after leading the Chargers to a stellar season. It's a small yet satisfying slither of revenge...