Word: vacuums
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...death of that formidable figure and of Gianni's younger brother Umberto Agnelli, both from cancer within 16 months, created the vacuum that forced Elkann--the eldest child of Gianni Agnelli's daughter Margherita and French-Italian writer Alain Elkann--to step to the fore ahead of schedule. He did so amid a two-year corporate crisis that began in 2002 when weak management damaged brand image and forced a $3.8 billion bank bailout to stave off potential bankruptcy. "If the situation had been different, I might have had more time to ease into the job. But I was forced...
...result of this diplomatic vacuum, the only factor constraining the behavior of the various parties has been their mutual fear. Israel has been worried that Hizballah might launch Katyusha rockets on Haifa, Syria that Israel might wipe out its army or regime, Hamas and Hizballah that their entire leadership could become fair game. But such apprehension always was at most a feeble restraint, because in an unregulated environment, the only thing more costly than disregarding one's fears is displaying them. In the past weeks, that last and flimsy inhibition finally gave way. The conflict no longer is about achieving...
...Syria's departure left a power vacuum in Lebanon that gave Hizballah even greater freedom of action. Before 2000, Syria, which lacks the military strength to go head-to-head with Israel, saw Hizballah's guerrilla war in southern Lebanon as the key leverage behind its own demands that Israel hand back the Golan Heights. It transferred weapons sent from Iran to Hizballah's forward positions along the Israeli border, and created a defensive shield behind which its fighters trained in the Bekaa Valley. But that relationship both enabled and restrained Hizballah, because Israeli or U.S. pressure on and incentives...
...fact, this may be the best time in 40 years to go work for Uncle Sam. For once, you might be able to advance rapidly, due to the vacuum at the top. Job security is rock solid, and the average salary is $62,000. They often pay your way through college or forgive your school loans. These jobs are in every state - only 1 in 6 is in the Washington, D.C., area. And despite what you might imagine, federal workers are very proud of the contribution they make to society. In a poll, 91% believed they do important work...
...Iraq, the fall of one of the Arab world's most formidable regimes has left religious and ethnic factions scrambling for power in a near civil war that seems to get bloodier by the day. Iran has been intent on filling the regional power vacuum left by the toppling of Saddam. Besides continuing to back Hizballah, which it actually created in 1982 after Israeli forces launched a wide-scale invasion of Lebanon to destroy the PLO, Iran has been extending its influence inside Iraq and could end up the dominant foreign influence there when the U.S. ultimately withdraws. So confident...