Word: martial
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...often lethargic standards of troops fighting long-running jungle wars, this N.P.A. platoon seems hyperactive. At 4 a.m., hours before daybreak, its soldiers are performing drills and martial arts in flip-flops and bare feet, then practicing grenade throwing with rocks from a nearby river. Their entire week is plotted out: from Monday to Friday, there's military and medical training, plus basic education and indoctrination sessions; weekends are devoted to food production and cultural activities. Even off duty, the platoon stays on message, gathering around a guitar to sing rebel songs or-possibly for the benefit of the platoon...
...close to forcing John Adams to make war against France in the 1790s)--providing at least some support for the notion that the processes of democratic deliberation can help keep the peace. On some occasions Congress has served as a kind of sheet anchor, restraining or even extinguishing the martial urge. In the isolationist 1930s, for example, Congress passed several neutrality statutes, aimed at keeping Franklin D. Roosevelt from intervening in the brewing international crisis that finally erupted as World War II. And on only five occasions has Congress formally declared war--each time in response to a presidential request...
DIED. Bong Soo Han, 73, Korean martial-arts grand master who introduced hapkido to the West; of complications from cancer; in Santa Monica, Calif. He moved to the U.S. after training in Korea in the art, which combines fluid, circular movement with fierce, sharp kicks. He taught thousands about "perfection of character" through his International Hapkido Federation, but was best known for his work in such films as The Kentucky Fried Movie and 1971's Billy Jack...
...gifted composer who had won an Oscar for his scoring of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, would do with his epic subject. I also was eager to see the production, since it was to be staged by Zhang Yimou, director of many sublime Chinese dramas, including Hero, the worldwide martial arts hit for which Tan Dun had supplied the music. Further, the costumes are by Emi Wada, who worked with Zhang on Hero and House of Flying Daggers. And even further, the opera is based on a 1996 Chinese movie, The Emperor's Shadow...
...public schools in the northeast have mysteriously caught fire. Initially, regional police, who made up one of Thaksin's strongest constituencies, blamed faulty wiring. But the military junta has cited the fires, which they consider deliberate torchings by Thaksin supporters, as justification for keeping parts of the nation under martial law. Certainly, linking the New Year's Eve violence to elements close to Thaksin could benefit the military junta. "[The government] may have felt that if they cracked down hard against their opponents they would appear too harsh, and the public would turn against them," says Panitan Wattanayagorn, a security...