They also hire lobbyists to fend off criticism of their human rights records.
Through such timely concessions, Mr. Karimov obviously hopes to fend off criticism of his regime's rights record.
But more and more Internet-centric celebrities have used fan sites, Twitter and personal blogs as tools to fend off criticism or air grievances.
Once he has taken a position designed to fend off criticism, he sticks to it no matter how thoroughly it has been exploded.
And to fend off criticism that he overpaid, Mr. Powell said that if Interbrew had not bought Beck's at that price, "another brewer would have".
Rights monitors abroad have expressed concern that China will exploit the new international antiterror campaign to fend off criticism of its poor human rights record.
HSBC's management, led by chairman Stephen Green, hopes to fend off criticism from Knight Vinke, the activist investor which has been calling for radical action over Household.
Church, the right fielder, has been the Mets' steadiest everyday player, with a.311 batting average, not to mention hustling plays on defense and on the bases that have helped the team fend off criticism that it is not playing hard.
Harriet E. Miers, who was White House counsel to President George W. Bush, had to fend off criticism from fellow Republicans that she was insufficiently conservative and that she did not know the law adequately.
And the Bush administration has been forced to fend off criticism that the government's initial response was disorganized, particularly the miscalculations by the Postal Service and health officials about how easily the anthrax could seep out of sealed envelopes.
