Word: quasi-
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Such fiery rhetoric, though, masks a gradual but unmistakable effort by al-Zarqawi to recast his image. Based on interviews by TIME with Bakr and others who have associated with al-Zarqawi, a picture emerges of a cold-blooded killer trying to reinvent himself as a quasi-religious leader. He wants to be seen as a deeply spiritual Muslim whose actions are driven by a desire to save Islam from attacks from external and internal enemies, according to those sources. The most striking aspect of that transformation is al-Zarqawi's attempt to mimic the sirah, or lifestyle...
...technically and morally impossible to obliterate. Second, there are the continuing burdens (not to mention the lessons) of Iraq to consider. Third, a war with Iran would completely undermine what is now the Gulf’s best hope for liberal democracy. Iran, though a theocracy, is already a quasi-representative system with competitive though not quite free elections. It contains a youthful, educated, and generally pro-American population and a vibrant civil society, and its clerical leaders are increasingly forced to accommodate to these realities. If Iran is reassured, it could be only a matter of time before...
That all changed in 1982. Pope John Paul II, also a creative traditionalist interested in labor and faith, granted Escrivá's wish that Opus be a "personal prelature," a global quasi-diocese, able in some cases to leapfrog local archbishops and deal directly with Rome. Almost simultaneously the Pope publicly constricted the competing, more liberal Jesuit order. A perception that Opus' ecclesiastical power knew no limits peaked with Escrivá's 1992 beatification, a brief (for those days) 17 years after his death. Faultfinders, notes Allen, claimed that the judging panel had been packed and Escrivá's critics blackballed; they viewed...
...Administration's other exercise in nation building, Afghanistan: lawless and plagued by jihadist insurgents, with a weak central government dependent on U.S. protection for survival. Optimistic U.S. and Iraqi officials hope that over the course of years the country will evolve into an Arab version of Pakistan, a fractious quasi-democracy held together by a strongman but reasonably able to defend itself. Few Americans had such an outcome in mind when the U.S. went into Iraq last spring. But if that's the bargain required to find a way out, there are even fewer who wouldn't take it. --Reported...
...Tormentors” makes it obvious why people in general still find him so compelling; throughout the album, the subjects of loss, love, and God are addressed within a tuneful flow, oozing charisma and self-conscious meaning. The music presents his image as the savior in his own quasi-religious faith.The album’s opener, “I Will See You in Far off Places,” starts with a banging rock opening that could be any number of bands from The Smith’s mid-80s heyday. But the lyrics immediately reveal Morrissey?...