It's just symbolism.

The timing and location of the attacks carried strong political symbolism.

So you see the symbolism at work? It's starting to come forth a little bit, you know.

She also creates life size fiberglass sculptures, often of animals, which she then completely covers in bindis, often with potent symbolism.

Some inspirational leaders are not great orators witness Mahatma Gandhi. But the symbolism of Gandhi s simple dress and lifestyle spoke louder than words.

Nevertheless, the question remains what happened to the Islamists? They spearheaded the opposition to Qaddafi, were advised by their Tunisian and Egyptian brethren, and larded their rhetoric with religious symbolism in a conservative Muslim country.

But Obama s visit, while heavy on symbolism, reveals the limits of his power. Burdened by economic problems in America and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, he can t act boldly in Africa or make big promises.

But the stark reality is that Earth Hour teaches all the wrong lessons, and actually increases CO2 emissions. It may inspire virtuous feelings, but its vain symbolism reveals exactly what is wrong with today s feel good environmentalism.

The symbolism of that treaty promises much, not least the idea that civil wars and US interventions may be things of the past. But the details of the treaty offer little comfort to a region that is still recovering from the economic devastation wrought by those wars.

Without his Gülenist allies, Erdoğan s message has become oriented exclusively to a domestic audience, and features heavy doses of populist religious nationalist symbolism. Meanwhile, the Gülenists, ever in search of the narrative upper hand, have been presenting themselves to Western audiences as Erdoğan s victims rather than as his collaborators.

There was no mistaking the power and symbolism of the opening ceremonies for the Beijing Olympic Games on August 8. That multimedia spectacular did far more than trace China s 5,000 year history it was a statement that China is a major civilization that demands and deserves its rightful place in the global hierarchy.

It should be remembered that when five countries Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands agreed in 1985 (in the village of Schengen, Luxembourg) to abolish border controls, they did not do so on a whim or because some politicians had a lofty vision. However symbolic the agreement may have been, symbolism wasn t the point.

Just as Byrnes address was short on detail but long on symbolism, a Speech of Hope for Greece does not have to be technical. It should simply mark a sea change, a break with the past five years of adding new loans on top of already unsustainable debt, conditional on further doses of punitive austerity.

Such an alternative is provided by the politics of nationalism, sectarianism, and identity a politics based on cultural values and symbolism rather than bread and butter interests. When politics is waged on these grounds, elections are won by those who are most successful at priming our latent cultural and psychological markers, not those who best represent our interests.

The daughter of a government clerk, Mayawati studied law and worked as a teacher before being spotted by the BSP s founder, the late Kanshi Ram, and groomed for political leadership. Her ascent has been marked by a heavy emphasis on symbolism her rule in Uttar Pradesh has featured the construction of numerous statues of Dalit leaders, notably herself and a taste for lavish celebrations.

Next year will also mark the centenary of the outbreak of World War I. From that moment until the present, Europe has both endured the worst and enjoyed the best of its history. We should bear in mind the enormous symbolism of this date in order to understand how much Europe has changed and, at the same time, to recognize the need to defend those changes.

The biggest idea was that Britain s monarchy serves to connect the country s past to its future in ways that transcend the pettiness and ugliness of quotidian politics. The heritage of kings and queens stretching back across more than a millennium the enduring symbolism of crowns and coaches, and the literal embodiment of the English and now the British state binds Britons together in a common journey.

There was also no mistaking the symbolism of seeing President Bush, waving cheerfully from his spot in the bleachers while Chinese President Hu Jintao sat behind what looked more like a throne. It is hard to imagine that China s government, which obsesses over every minute issue of diplomatic protocol, had not orchestrated this stark image of America s decline relative to the country to which it owes 1.4 trillion.

The celebrations and commemorations will be full of symbolism related to contemporary disputes. Already, British Prime Minister David Cameron has had to shift a summit meeting with French President François Hollande from the proposed site, Blenheim Palace, because French diplomats realized that it had been built to celebrate John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough, who crushed Louis XIV s forces in 1704, near the small Bavarian town that gave the palace its name.