Word: tensioning
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...week, and a prosecutor recently alleged that a powerful cabal of nationalist hit men has plotted to bring the country's institutions to a fall. So when two fatal bombs ripped through a working-class Istanbul neighborhood on Sunday night, killing 17 and injuring another 150, the already palpable tension in Turkey went up another few notches...
...what makes it so susceptible to the temptation of pharmaceutical assistance. Well-funded teams go to great lengths to enhance strength and endurance, through both legal and, in some cases, illegal means. Anti-doping officials try their best to keep up with the latest techniques for avoiding detection. This tension inevitably casts a shadow on the other top competitors who have not tested positive, both those who adamantly shun doping and those who have managed to beat the blood and urine tests...
There is such productive tension between politics and comedy because the two fields are so different. Politics is about biting your tongue and sticking to bland bromides (for which you have to blame not just politicians but also voters and the gaffe-happy media). Comedy is about tearing off scabs and unveiling anxieties. In a race that's so much about identity taboos--an old guy is running against a black guy who defeated a white lady--we need that more than ever. Yet the fear of sounding bigoted is precisely what has made (white, male) late-night comics...
Turkey is a predominantly Muslim country, but the rising tension is evidence that another zealously guarded set of beliefs also holds sway. The principle of state secularism was introduced in the 1920s by modern Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, to purge the country of what he considered backward influences. But for leading members of the military, judiciary and civil service, Ataturk's dictates became a license to wage war on political Islam. They did so through coups in 1960 and 1971, the "soft coup" of 1997, and several bans on political parties. In the last decade, such interventions seemed...
...McCain lost South Carolina and, eventually, the nomination. He endorsed his opponent - but mocked the ritual, robotically telling reporters, "I endorse George Bush, I endorse George Bush, I endorse George Bush." And months would pass before he would campaign for him against Al Gore. "The tension was palpable," recalls Scott McClellan, the Bush aide who went on to become White House press secretary. "The two were cordial, but McCain would get that forced smile on his face whenever they were together...