Word: leader
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Dates: during 2010-2019
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...bucketful at the Prime Minister's office and private residence. Brahmin priests attended the bloodletting, casting hexes on the government amid swirls of incense. Such black magic, which dates back to Thailand's pre-Buddhist past, might seem like the domain of superstitious peasants. But last year, yellow-shirt leader and media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul placed sanitary napkins soaked with menstrual blood around a Bangkok monument as part of a spell designed to vanquish Thaksin. Many locals seem to believe that witchcraft will be just as influential in driving the course of Thai politics as good governance or normal political...
...serenity, though, is illusory. The home's inhabitant is Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libya's four-decade-long leader Muammar Gaddafi. At 37, Saif finds himself at the heart of a political battle for his country's future. To hear Saif tell it, the need for reform is urgent. "The whole world is going through more freedom, more democracy," he says, pumping the air in impatience. "We want to see those changes now, instead of 10 years' time, or 15 years." (See pictures of the rise of Muammar Gaddafi...
...people - al-Megrahi returned to a hero's welcome in Tripoli last August with Saif by his side. The move cemented Saif's standing among millions of ordinary Libyans. "After that, Saif could no longer be accused of being infected with Western values," says Noman Benotman, a former leader in the militant Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, or LIFG, who fought alongside al-Qaeda in Afghanistan until 2000. Benotman is a lot less famous than al-Megrahi, but his collaboration with Saif may actually be the clearest sign that Gaddafi Junior is serious about reform. Saif brought Benotman to Libya...
That's hard to imagine. His father's authority as Brother Leader and Guide of the Revolution remains unimpeachable, and Libyans who challenge it can be jailed. But Saif believes his vision is not only possible, but inevitable. "Ask any Libyan," he says. "They want an efficient and modern country. If you are against that, you are an idiot...
...people who don't want change. Libya's powerful security organizations - often fingered by human-rights groups for conducting arbitrary arrests and torture - are resisting reforms. Also opposed are members of the revolutionary committees, who have garnered wealth and political benefits through their close association with Libya's leader. "There are a lot of people for whom reform is not in their personal interest," says Shukri Ghanem, a former Prime Minister who heads the Libyan National Oil Corporation. "It will not be a walk in the park...