Sunnis worry that a Shia super-region in the south of the country could come under the influence of neighbouring Iran.

ECONOMIST: Now for the hard part | The

Kirgizstan, with just 4.8m people, has increasingly come under the influence of authoritarian leaders in the larger Central Asian republics, in particular Kazakhstan.

ECONOMIST: Kirgizstan

Mr George is also said to have told the paper the Iraqi state board of antiquities and heritage, which he presided over, had come under the increasing influence of supporters of radical Shia cleric Moqtada al Sadr, and he had been trying to counter a growing Islamist and anti-Western agenda.

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He also cautioned that an independent Bangladesh would come under the political and economic influence of neighbouring India.

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"Sometimes in rehearsal Michael would appear a little loopy, under the influence of something, but mostly when he would come to the rehearsals from the dermatologist, " Payne testified.

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Under the influence of this optimistic view, U.S. foreign policy has in recent months come increasingly to be based on the tacit and largely unexamined assumption that, under Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union is on its way to becoming a more reliable bargaining partner in international negotiations and a more "normal" participant in international life.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: The New Soviet Challenge