It even has security-cleared staff, including some from the British agency, to shake down the gear and ensure it can't be exploited by spooks or crooks.

ENGADGET: Huawei working with British spy service to prove its 'kit' is clean

It also means huge endowments and a shake-down of rich donors.

BBC: Moolah maestro, please

Such paternalism may have helped to shake Turkey out of its Ottoman torpor, but it goes down badly in liberal-democratic modern Europe.

ECONOMIST: A survey of Turkey

Local politicians hate this idea because it would prevent them from being able to shake down companies trying to win permission to offer expanded services.

FORBES: No Shame

This demonstrates how hard it is to shake fixed stigmas - which have already been passed down to the younger generation.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Scotland | 'Finding the key to battling stigma'

It was completed in 1984 and in 1985 staged the Asian Games as a shake down for the 1988 summer Olympics.

FORBES: Olympic Meddle

The way to shake up Poland's crony capitalism is not by selectively hunting down the cronies, but by making it such an open, liberal and competitive society that the old connections no longer count for much.

ECONOMIST: The job of Poland's government is reform, not revenge

It will also be a chance for the parties to shake off some of the challenges that are holding them down, such as the right-wing drift of the GOP -- which could hurt the chances of the Republican candidates in 2016, regardless of how charismatic and talented they are.

CNN: Why 2014 is the year to watch