Word: clericalization
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...launched a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent the Islamic Republic from acquiring the means to build nuclear weapons, Hizballah would almost certainly be enlisted to retaliate against Israel. Ties between Tehran and Hizballah are tight - Iran hand-picked Nasrallah, then a young cleric, to lead Hizballah - and Iran would want a return on the hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of rockets and funds for social and military spending it has invested in Hizballah over a quarter century. While the U.S. remains committed for now to a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff, the Israeli leadership...
...politicians such as radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and President Bush's recent visitor, Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim, are also keen to see the Americans back off. With U.S. forces no longer in charge, there will be no restraining the Shi'ite militias - including those controlled by al-Sadr and al-Hakim - from bullying and butchering the Sunni minority. In Washington, al-Hakim was careful to emphasize he doesn't want Americans to leave. But Shi'ite leaders want the U.S. to focus on defeating the Sunni insurgency, not on the Shi'ite militias...
...Sunni-Shi'ite battle is also being fought out on the airwaves, where the Hariri-owned Future TV and Hizballah's Al-Manar network have been accusing their sectarian rivals of stoking the conflict. A key Sunni cleric, Sheikh Ali al-Jozo, the mufti of Mount Lebanon, has repeatedly attacked Hizballah, describing Nasrallah as a "dictator" and accusing him of advancing a foreign, Syrian-Iranian agenda...
...Blue Mosque meant Vatican aides and their Muslim hosts would need to work out in advance the basic details of the encounter. Several hours beforehand, word had spread that last Thursday's televised visit would include a moment for silent prayer or reflection. Still, when Istanbul's top cleric, Mustafa Cagrici, told the Pope it was time for a "moment of serenity," Benedict looked for an instant as if he'd been caught off guard. It may well have been that Cagrici had just repeated that they were facing in the direction of the Islamic holy city of Mecca...
GESTURE Silent meditation facing Mecca, with Turkey's senior Muslim cleric by his side...