But Mr Van der Stoel's mandate precludes him from seeking to put out fires that have already started burning, so minorities such as Kurds in Turkey, Basques in Spain and Catholics in Northern Ireland are off his beat.
Although his choice of apparel is off-beat, his songs consisted of standard French romance songs, as you would expect to hear played on an accordion.
The star is known for his off-beat humour and love of Broadway tunes, qualities which would make him suited to the traditional opening number.
In a more conventional offense, the point guard is called upon to beat his man off the dribble in a one-on-one (or isolation) situation and penetrate to the basket for a pass or a shot.
FORBES: With Knicks Coach Mike D'Antoni Gone, Jeremy Lin Should Be Afraid. Very Afraid.
Mitt Romney is on his way to beat his opponents easily on Tuesday in New Hampshire after pulling off a close victory of just 8 votes in Iowa against Rick Santorum.
While the clock speeds don't match those of Intel's fastest chips, the Apple executive claimed his new processors beat the pants off of a 600MHz Pentium III running most applications -- an assertion that Intel will likely refute.
Julius Erving of the New York Nets took off from the free-throw line and beat his competition.
FORBES: LeBron James Should Compete in the 2014 All-Star Weekend Dunk Competition
Jensen turned Cahill on the edge of the area and his shot took a looping deflection off Carsley to beat Howard.
Tardif was sent off for the challenge and Iwelumo kept his cool to beat reserve keeper Gareth Stewart from the penalty spot.
However, Andy Graham missed a glorious chance to extend Newry's advantage on 62 after finding himself with only Blayney to beat but the Linfield keeper raced off his line to block.
His determination to clinch the deal saw him beat off rival competition from private equity firms.
The dazzling point guard couldn't beat Tyson Chandler off the dribble and then had his 3-pointer with 3.5 seconds left blocked cleanly by New York's 7-foot-1 center.
The striker displayed impressive acceleration with only Tzoras to beat, but his 12-yard strike deflected off the Panathinaikos keeper's left leg and out for a corner, much to Park Chu-young's frustration.
Nish was out of contract in the summer and Hibs beat off competition from Scunthorpe, Leyton Orient and Preston for his signature.
Ermir Strati put the Albanians in front in the 66th minute when his 20-yard strike beat Michael Fraser and went in off the post.
Whittaker and Davis had low drives cleared from in front of goal, but Zenit broke clear and Arschavin beat Alexander only to have his chip towards goal headed off the line by Sasa Papac.
The Hammers almost equalised when Cole's shot from five yards out beat Boaz Myhill, but he saw his effort come back off the underside of the bar.
Kentan Jackson, from Gellideg in Merthyr Tydfil, beat off competition from 55, 000 children throughout the UK and his work will be shown in a special exhibition at the new Tate Modern gallery.
He beat Van der Sar with his curling effort, but it rebounded off an upright to safety.
But he didn't miss a beat, using his defensive skills to baffle Guerrero and keep him off balance.
Naledge spits with the swagger necessary to pull off his strut, and Double-O sets him up with a radio-friendly beat, an amalgam of swirling synths, deliberately dated 808 drum sounds and any number of sonic ornaments.
He beat off competition from the bookies' favourite and the poet laureate to win his first major award.
With the game won Vicente del Bosque made changes and the introduction of Cesc Fabregas almost lifted the roof off Ellis Park when, 16 seconds after being introduced, he beat the offside trap and rounded the keeper only to see his shot hacked off the line by Chavez.
And that anticipation grew that little bit more last week when he beat Robert Karlsson and Robert Garrigus in a three-way play-off for his first US Tour title in 12 years - even if his victory was heavily aided by Garrigus's triple-bogey on the par-four 18th when the American needed only a six to win.
BBC: Lee Westwood relishes US Open challenge at Pebble Beach
His shot beat Kevin Pressman but could not beat the woodwork and it came bouncing back off the crossbar.
Rovers beat off competition to sign Andrew on loan last season and are aware other clubs will monitoring his situation.
Peca, who recorded the first multiple-goal game of his college career and now has 15 tallies this season, beat Troy Grosenick with a backhander off a rebound scramble 9:46 in to start it off.
Robinson had to be at his sharpest to beat away a firm drive from the youngster, and the keeper then pulled off a superb double save in the space of a minute, beating away Eboue's drive after denying Kolo Toure from six yards out following a corner.
He beat off competition from around 200 other young people to win the top science prize and was presented with his award by the UK Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson.
应用推荐