And finally, there is the vast, gripping loneliness.
WASHINGTON — The vast protests gripping Cairo put President Obama in a position both awkward and familiar, recalling the winter of 2011, when he grappled with what to do about another embattled Egyptian president, a restive military and angry young Egyptians quick to see a meddling American hand in their political drama.
AFTER 63 years of dormancy if not oblivion, "The Eternal Road," Kurt Weill's vast, emotionally gripping musical pageant of Jewish history, is returning to the city of its premiere, but in a form that may perplex and even infuriate its audience.
SANA, Yemen — Vast, dueling protests gripped this dusty, divided city on Friday as tens of thousands of people prayed in the streets for the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's rule, while his supporters staged even larger demonstrations of their own warning of the chaos that would come to Yemen if he were driven from power.
By the end of 2015, matters may have been decided if Kurds move for independence and Sunnis consolidate their grip on vast swathes of the country's north-west.
By the Treaty of Dalaborg of 1388, the nobles proclaimed Margaret Sweden's "sovereign lady and rightful ruler" and granted her the main portion of Bo Jonsson Grip's vast domains.
The rebels have expanded their grip over vast areas of central and eastern India, claiming to be fighting for the rights of landless peasants and laborers in rural areas left behind by India's rapid economic growth.
Today, Rustavi is a model for the stubborn poverty gripping a vast region rich in oil, gas and strategic importance but short of the hope that even five years ago buoyed forecasts of a better tomorrow.
He has maintained a firm grip over the vast and sparsely populated country, with genuine opposition actively repressed and critics of the government either jailed or chased into exile.
Even now, administration officials say, the Pentagon's determination to retain its grip of the vast swath of the intelligence budget it now controls remains a significant obstacle to any White House recommendation for major change.
