Secondly, that power in Iran moves between factions, just as in America, so any deal must be future-proofed against the day when a hardliner returns to the presidency.
The attack on the Dusit Thani Bangkok Hotel in the early hours of Monday may have been a retaliatory move by a faction loyal to Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawatdiphol, the renegade officer allied with the protesters who was shot on Thursday and died Monday.
For its part, the international community has shown little capacity to move Haiti's factions toward a workable compromise.
But, with his small bloc of parliamentary seats, he has spent his career moving from one faction to another, making and breaking Lebanese governments.
He described going to the bosses of the Gambino and Colombo families — Paul Castellano and Carmine Persico, respectively — in 1981 before taking pre-emptive action against three senior Bonanno figures who were moving against his faction in a brewing power struggle.
America may no longer have the leverage to insure an outcome favorable to its interests or its values, but it should use its remaining influence to help Egypt's factions move past their own zero-sum game.
"He has also managed to unite the party's various factions, move it to the centre and, in so doing, appeal to a wider audience," he told the Observer.
The Marshall outburst has enraged colleagues, and brings to a head tensions that first came to the surface, publicly at least, when the majority of the left faction moved against Carr earlier this year in an effort to have him dumped from the frontbench.
He refused to allow the formation of political parties that would have helped Afghanistan move away from faction-based movements into a more mature political culture.
As union leaders made their strategic move Tuesday, a dissident faction of players was proceeding with a petition drive that could force a vote on dissolving the union.
