Word: firebrands
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...political factions. Proponents of the pact, led by Maliki's Shi'ite bloc and its Kurdish allies, emphasize that it reflects the fact that the Iraqi government has forced Washington to accept hard deadlines for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, and to make other concessions. Nationalist opponents led by firebrand Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr reject the agreement in principle, because it gives an Iraqi stamp of approval to the U.S. military presence in Iraq, which is currently authorized by the U.N. Security Council. The Sunni Tawafuk bloc, meanwhile, does not reject the pact in principle, but wants to squeeze...
...Adan held off a strong challenge from a breakaway Chávista candidate. The PSUV also took about two-thirds of the total national vote and kept the opposition from winning the seven or eight states it needed to stun Chávez. If the radical, anti-U.S. firebrand showed anything, it's that his red-beret power and popularity are relatively intact...
...that's not enough for some Iraqi leaders, like the firebrand Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. On Friday he threatened to resume attacks against U.S. troops if they don't withdraw "without retaining bases or signing agreements." By rejecting the pact, al-Sadr, like some other opponents of the deal, is also hoping to burnish his nationalist credentials ahead of crucial provincial polls in January...
...embraced fiscal sobriety, strengthening Brazil's currency, the real, and reforming a bloated civil service pension system. Those policies and a windfall in commodities fueled a boom--the economy will grow 5% or more again this year, and inflation is historically low. Even his rivals acknowledge that despite his firebrand image, Lula has been a deft political operator. "The danger with Lula is that he can be rather messianic," says Rubens Ricúpero, a Finance Minister in the 1990s, when Lula opposed the market reforms he now backs. "But he's one of the most intelligent politicians in the world...
...preaches peace. But on the subject of extremists, he can sound like a Washington hawk. "We need to capture all the scholars who are preaching violence, and, if we must, even kill them," he says. "Their danger is that they can affect the whole country." Recently, he confronted a firebrand preacher who had exhorted Muslims to kill Christians. "Do you believe Allah is wise and that all things come from Allah?" Marwani asked. The preacher did. "Even that Mercedes you drive?" the sheik pressed on. "Because if you kill all the Christians, there won't be any of them left...