Word: populars
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...objective is not to wipe out Hamas, but instead to force the radical group to accept a durable cease-fire on Israel's terms. While they hope to weaken Hamas, Israel's leaders are aware that a military campaign is unlikely to destroy the organization that remains the most popular political force in Gaza. Any attempt to do so would require not only a massive invasion of all of Gaza, but also an open-ended reoccupation of a hostile population, a trap Olmert and Barak want to avoid at all costs. Thus, the key requirement for entering Gaza is having...
...December, wings of the two targeted hotels reopened to grand receptions and an outpouring of city pride. Despite the drums of war being sounded in New Delhi and Islamabad, life goes on. A few days after two terrorists killed 10 patrons at the Leopold Café, a popular drinking spot, I sat there and watched an elderly carpenter with a ruler and tape take measurements of the large glass pane, damaged by bullet holes, that fronted the bar. Onlookers snapped pictures of the poignant moment of recovery, camera flashes twinkling in the crystalline cracks. At the end of the Inferno...
...throughout 2008, many Asians appeared to progressively lose their faith in democratic politics. In Thailand and South Korea, the streets have been convulsed by mass protests, despite elections that ushered in popular leaders in the past two years. Pakistan and East Timor are rapidly veering toward the status of failed states. Malaysia suffers from a paucity of good governance, proof that simply holding polls doesn't ensure a healthy democracy. Postelection riots shook Mongolia, while Bangladesh is trying to exorcise two years of military-backed rule with a strong voter turnout in its Dec. 29 polls that ushered the secular...
...string of islands and coral atolls in the Indian Ocean, another far less heralded poll took place. For 30 years, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom had ruled the Maldives, making him Asia's longest-serving leader. But on Nov. 11, he peacefully relinquished power after the country's first-ever multiparty popular elections. His successor is Mohamed Nasheed, a human-rights activist whom Gayoom had imprisoned repeatedly. At his inauguration, the 41-year-old Nasheed said he hoped his government would serve as a "fine example to the international community." It's an example Asia, indeed the world, needs...
Winter swimming has been popular in Scandinavia and Russia for years, but the most intense thing I've heard is this guy in Antarctica who jumped into a hole in the ice. I can't believe that. Hats off to him. We also got an e-mail two years ago from some of our troops in Iraq who did a New Year's Day plunge in Saddam's pool. I think that's pretty great...