Despite his economic triumphs, Mr. Zhao may be remembered most for his futile effort to head off violence in 1989.
Eighty-three percent of student attendees indicated that the presentation increased the likelihood that they'd take action to head off violence.
In that case, Afghan officials were slow to try to head off violence, and American officials later said they were concerned and angered by the delay.
The soldiers also run patrols 24 hours a day, to head off violence, oversee the rebuilding and monitor the Awakening groups.
On another occasion, after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Mayor White, as a way to head off violence in the streets, arranged for a James Brown concert to be shown on public television.
The goal is to head off violence by stepping in with treatment and, if violence does occur, to coordinate a response between the mental health and the criminal justice systems.
The impasse grew so grave that some senior Afghan officials considered imposing an interim government — a move tantamount to a coup, but one that the officials insisted might be needed to head off violence.
Tension has risen to the point that last week American commanders held a series of emergency meetings with the Iraqi government and Kurdish officials, seeking to head off violence essentially between factions of the Iraqi government.
In the case of the massacre in Kandahar, prompt apologies and condemnations from not only Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of the international force, but also President Obama — along with quick action by local leaders — seemed to head off violence and contain the blowback.
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine's besieged interim government raced to head off violence that might set off a Russian invasion of its eastern provinces on Sunday, recruiting wealthy eastern businessmen to become provincial governors in an effort to dampen secessionist sentiment there.
