Word: firebrand
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...Mosque to commemorate the death of some 100 militants and students who had faced down the Pakistani security forces in a standoff that rocked Pakistan. The nine-day siege, code-named "Operation Silence," culminated in a vicious firefight in the usually tranquil capital that killed the mosque's firebrand prayer leader, Abdul Rashid Ghazi. At the end the mosque was still standing, but the seminary, or madrassa, had been reduced to rubble...
...bloodless coup. (Thaksin, a billionaire tycoon, was subsequently banned from politics and now faces corruption charges, which he denies.) A year of uninspired army junta rule followed. In elections last December, voters, who had once handed Thaksin the largest mandate in recent Thai history, brought to power right-wing firebrand Samak, who through his People Power Party (PPP) openly campaigned as Thaksin's proxy. Although Samak has in recent weeks distanced himself from his polarizing predecessor, his cabinet teems with Thaksin acolytes. Thaksin's former spokesman is now Foreign Minister, while his brother-in-law is deputy prime minister. Three...
When Hugo Chavez took power and the world was first taking stock of the new leader in Venezuela, U.S. diplomats there counseled that the firebrand's bark was worse than his bite. "Pay attention to what Chavez does, not what he says," was the message to Washington from its people in the field. But after Chavez last weekend withdrew a controversial intelligence law in Venezuela, and told Colombia's FARC rebels that the age of Marxist guerrilla warfare in Latin America is over, many may be wondering if even the bark of the hemisphere's most prominent anti...
...three U.S. defense contractors who have been held hostage by the FARC since 2003. Chavez has, this year, mediated the release of a handful of high-profile Colombian hostages held by the guerrillas, and sources familiar with the case of the U.S. captives acknowledge that the Venezuelan firebrand could play a similar role in their freedom. It's an admittedly slim hope, but one the U.S. probably won't want to jeopardize at this point...
...Over the past six months, Chalabi has focused a lot of attention on delivering services to Sadr City, the northeast Baghdad Shi'ite slum that is a major stronghold of the firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. To do this required close coordination with al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia, which has over the past month been locked in fierce battles with U.S. and Iraqi government forces. The U.S. alleges that elements of the Mahdi Army have received training and weapons from Iran. "We talk to the Madhi Army," says Chalabi spokesman Mohammad Hassan al-Moussawi, "because the Madhi Army...