The latest round came this month when Turkey's highest court rebuffed Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the AKP leader and an observant Muslim with an Islamist past, on a matter of high symbolism.
But it could at least be an event of high symbolism, allowing the big powers and the Arab states to show that they have not abandoned the Palestinians, while reviving the belief of Palestinians and Israelis alike in the possibility of a negotiated peace.There is, however, a sticking point.
Speaking to the Guardian, Van Jackson, a former policy adviser to the US secretary of defence who focuses on Asia said: "It's high on symbolism and definitely exciting, but you have to ask yourself what does the symbolism amount to?
But last week's East Asian summit in Hanoi ranked very high in symbolism.
As a result, President-elect George W. Bush's decision to name as the 79th attorney general John Ashcroft, the former Missouri Republican senator and a hero of the conservative right, represents an act of high political symbolism.
In planning to gather on Tuesday, the demonstrators have chosen a site high in symbolism, but distant from where the bishops will meet, in a Capitol Hill hotel, from Monday through Thursday.
The lead note of our China section reports on a high-level meeting between Chinese and Taiwanese government officials, arguing that although the event was high in symbolism, it was also important.From Shanghai we report on the government's clampdown on free thinkers, and ask whether free thinking itself can be so easily contained.
Now, there's a grand vision to revive Crenshaw Boulevard, a stretch high in symbolism especially for L.A.'s black community.
That alone makes this year's agreement a far cry from the "Kumbayah" events of Earth Days past, which were often high on symbolism but weak on substance - but it's not just because so many political leaders have taken up the cause.
Never mind the high-school symbolism — this "Jenufa" makes a glorious noise.
In a narrative fueled by high-octane symbolism, we first get to know LaJoy as he is gobbling eggs delivered by a dodo-like waitress, prior to loading up the vitamin K and heading to the islands for a hard day of rat salvation.
