Defections by units of the Greek Navy to the Venizelist factions provoked a Royalist purge of Venizelist officers and men from the Greek Navy.
Mr. Khalilzad is also trying to shore up support for Mr. Karzai's government by providing visible signs of reconstruction, an effort that could provoke resentment from other factions as the elections approach.
Kenyan police say they are worried that recent splits within al- Shabaab, in which a splinter group has declared loyalty to Islamic State against the wishes of the al-Qaida-aligned leadership, could provoke one of the factions to launch a major attack to prove its credentials.
One minute he seems to be provoking Indonesia's many factions, the next he is trying to unify them.
He is also a polarizing figure in the Satmar sect of Hasidic Jews and was an instigator in a bitter, long-running dynastic struggle between two Satmar factions — even once provoking a brawl in a Brooklyn synagogue.
The implementation of the law was a therefore contentious issue that provoked internal strife as community factions were pitted one against another, each trying to secure the best parcels of land for itself.
Kim Jong Un, the North's young dictator, closed the year by executing his uncle for forming "factions" against him.Edward Snowden provoked a debate about government mass-surveillance programmes when he leaked classified documents about the activities of America's National Security Agency.
But though there have been violent clashes between factions since last week, many have been provoked by seculars, not Islamists.
They have provoked a predictably robust public reaction: Salmond promptly described Labour as "a hotbed of factionalism and poisonous infighting – between factions in Scotland and London and within those factions themselves.
Many political analysts say that outcome would smack of meddling in the vote count by hard-line factions in the government and could provoke deep discontent and possible unrest.
In a striking gesture of conciliation, the Maoists agreed in April last year that the army need accommodate only 1,450 of their ex-fighters (not the 12,000 they earlier wanted "integrated").Such pragmatic concessions provoked a hardline Maoist faction to break away.
