It was, in the end, too small and indulgent a preoccupation, too unlike a genuine destiny.
For China's strategic planners, securing sea lanes against hostile powers has become perhaps the chief preoccupation.
German engineers, who focus squarely on the driving experience, couldn't understand the Americans' preoccupation with beverages.
The Green Movement had been forced underground, but it remained a preoccupation, even among hard-liners.
Her mother's preoccupation with her own appearance set an example that nagged Lee through adulthood.
In his Iraq speech, the President mentioned that the economic recovery is a central preoccupation.
For above all, China's preoccupation is with affairs at home rather than reshaping the world order.
In fact, the appointments seemed as much to reflect his own preoccupation with livelihood issues over politics.
The organizations start losing money and hence go out of business, until a preoccupation with efficiency re-emerges.
He has made jobs his central preoccupation, conducting weekly pit-stop trips to job centres or training schemes.
Watching for evidence of friction along these ideological faultlines is a major preoccupation of the Scottish media.
Why not show the same preoccupation for the people that are the real victims of these terrorist groups?
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True, a preoccupation with the relative merits of various types of decorative sticky tape is not for everyone.
Indeed, from the heady heights of Davos, this trade round's preoccupation with farming the oldest of old-economy businesses looks absurd.
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Dale Bathum developed a preoccupation with footwear as a kid, when his wide feet hurt in running shoes.
His preoccupation with Unefon financing allowed rival Televisa to come back with a string of successful nighttime shows.
His preoccupation with financing Unefon allowed rival Televisa to come back with a string of successful nighttime shows.
This is a byproduct of polarization, the cultlike expulsion of any dissenting voices and preoccupation with ideological purity.
Corporate America's newfound preoccupation with energy costs has made efficiency a hot business.
Security measures in Kashgar hardly suggest a preoccupation with terrorism, but rather an attempt to keep the population cowed.
There are fears that the preoccupation of the Pakistan armed forces with Kashmir may prove an obstacle to peace.
This led to a discussion of today's operatic preoccupation with singers' physical allure.
But will cultivating a healthy preoccupation with data pay dividends for your business?
Dr Williams was also wasted because of the Church's preoccupation with its divisions.
Such activities have largely been ignored in the Western preoccupation with the Soviet Union's more benign overt diplomatic campaigns.
But sex is at the core of his work: women were his preoccupation.
Libertarians dislike them for their preoccupation with using the state to impose virtue.
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Leaders and officials at every level will begin to relax after months if not years of preoccupation with this event.
But Montgomerie accepts that the modern preoccupation with sports analytics means that there are precious few eccentrics in today's game.
Aziz said that his country's neighbors don't share the U.S. preoccupation with whether Iraq has amassed weapons of mass destruction.
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