South Africa had long been criticized for coddling Mr. Mugabe through a decade of rigged, bloodstained elections, but last week Mr. Zuma persuaded regional leaders to endorse assertive, time-consuming efforts to ensure that the next time Zimbabweans voted, they would be able to do so freely and fairly.
Learning to be assertive takes time and practice.
It was assertive, at times comic or cavalier, and though often sweet, it could also sound almost devoid of pity.
Urgent, quietly assertive, at times doing his job simply by standing still in the right areas, Dier is a genuinely unusual kind of English footballer.
The chorus of 31 was beautifully prepared and appropriate to the size of the hall; its exquisite balances brought out fascinating contrapuntal details, especially in the men's voices, but its overall sound was assertive, at times almost aggressive (except where it most needed to be: in the cries for crucifixion, here as measured as everything else).
And they saw Mr. Bradley evolve from a passive debater who did not respond to Mr. Gore's broadsides to an assertive, at times sarcastic, combatant who in their last debate here on Monday night ridiculed the Clinton administration on the issue of racial profiling.
Along the way, though, some European leaders, to their credit, became more attuned and assertive, but precious time had been lost and the dangers had become more deeply rooted.
Skepta's lyrical prowess, honed over a decade in London's underground, is on full display see: the hilariously scathing and somehow-still-relevant Vine punchline on "Corn on the Curb"—but his typically aggressive production feels assertive enough this time around to open him up to a brand new audience.
Being a calm assertive leader takes time, so don't be put off if your dog does pull or tries to wander off.
In her own way, this woman is ahead of her time — self-assertive, individualistic — but hardly a person whom the feminist movement would want to claim as a forerunner.
DO AS I SAY... -- One of the three workshops on Saturday on agency management and operations, carrying the assertive title "Why It's Time for a New Kind of Agency," was presented by two top executives of AKQA, a recently formed advertising, marketing and technology services shop, backed by Accenture, with offices in London, New York, San Francisco and Singapore.
