There are also images of him as he approached middle age in the 1990's a time he gained the blessing of no less a moral authority than Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela.

VOA: standard.2009.08.29

Being so, we are the marvel and the mystery of the world, for that enduring liberty is no less a blessing than the abundance of the earth.

WSJ: And the Fair Land

To date, the Kremlin has treated oligarchs like renters rather than owners and no significant sale has been possible without its blessing, even when no foreigners are involved.

ECONOMIST: Business in Russia

Formally, there is no need for the government to give its blessing to new nuclear stations: there is no law banning companies from building them now.

ECONOMIST: Nuclear power: The wind, the sun—and the atom | The