storm center

Noun

storm center (plural storm centers)

1. (figuratively) A central place of great activity and importance.
   • The storm center of lawlessness in every American State is the State Capitol. It is there that the worst crimes are committed; it is there that lawbreaking attains to the estate and dignity of a learned profession; it is there that contempt for the laws is engendered, fostered, and spread broadcast.1910 October 20, Henry Louis Mencken, “On Lawlessness”, in The Evening Sun
   • After the close of the War of 1914-18 the storm-centre of international affairs, which for the past half-century had hovered over the Near and Middle East and for the previous four centuries over Central Europe, had apparently shifted to the Pacific area.1926, Survey of International Affairs, page 392