Word: feudalism
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...years old, but Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, a feudal lord in Pakistan's rugged Baluchistan province, wants to fight to the death. A Kalashnikov rifle strapped to his back, Bugti travels by camel through desert ravines and hobbles up cliffs to hidden caves where he plots ways for his Baluch tribesmen to ambush the Pakistani army. "It's better to die?as the Americans say?with your spurs on," says Bugti. "Instead of a slow death in bed, I'd rather death come to me while I'm fighting for a purpose." That purpose is to make life as difficult...
...develop the territory to improve the lives of the Baluch and to secure the country's energy needs. But the Baluch say they have been marginalized and do not receive adequate royalties from the central authorities for the extraction of the province's natural resources. Islamabad says the feudal chiefs are pocketing the royalties for themselves...
...decades, the People's Republic really only had one higher power: Mao Zedong. After the 1949 Communist revolution, Mao declared that religion was a "feudal superstition" with little place in a modern Marxist society. Although five official religions were allowed-Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism-they were tightly circumscribed and had to express fealty to the Communist state before any divine entity. During the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, believers of these watered-down religions were attacked. Red Guards razed thousands of temples, churches and mosques. Shanghai's Jing'an Temple was converted into a flour factory and portraits...
...This is a familiar pattern. In the late 19th century, the rapid risers were Germany, Japan and the U.S. itself. Though oceans apart, they embarked on similar careers. The first step was national unification. In Japan, the Meiji Restoration consolidated fragmented, feudal power into a technocratic and imperial state. In Germany, Bismarck fused 25 kingdoms and duchies into the Second Reich. In the U.S., the Civil War ended with the Union restored. Step two was rampant economic growth, with all three overtaking the established powers in the production of iron, steel and energy?those industries that would soon yield guns...
...anything, that experiment has been too successful. The King's ultimate aim has long been to replace feudal monarchy with parliamentary democracy. But thanks to his judicious rule, the King's subjects are less than enthralled by the prospect of politics disturbing their peaceful lives. During a nationwide roadshow campaign at the end of last year to convince Bhutan of the merits of elected government, King Wangchuck was met by crowds imploring him to stay on. Wangchuck subsequently postponed his plans until 2008. It's nice to be trusted?up to a point...