11.   Shifting alliances have been a characteristic of the power struggle in Afghanistan for decades.

12.   Some voters have been put off by the proliferation of parties and shifting alliances.

13.   That massacre had its roots in a frenzied series of power struggles and shifting alliances that have come to characterize the Afghan conflict.

14.   The documents reveal the murky depths beneath the shifting Cold War alliances.

15.   Voters cast their ballots Sunday in a by-election that dramatically illustrates the way clan rivalries and shifting alliances dominate Lebanese politics.

16.   Shifting alliances in the capital have further clouded the power stuggle between Ali Mahdi and Aidid.