Word: assertive
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...into anger (usually at the media), followed by the defiant continuation of the very practice that sparked outrage in the first place. (Kelly may not be abusing minors, but at least in his music he has never been more overtly sexual.) That three-step rumba allows a person to assert his victimhood and exceptionalism simultaneously, eliciting sympathy from the faithful and grudging admiration--for hanging in there, for sticking to his guns--from the skeptical. If you think it doesn't work, ask Tom DeLay (still in Congress amid an ethics scandal), Bill O'Reilly (still on the air after...
...issues. Large parts of southern Afghanistan are still too dangerous for foreigners, where fighting continues between U.S. forces and remnants of the Taliban, and bomb attacks have taken place in Kabul. At times, the authors' enthusiasm for their subject appears to make them downplay these issues, as when they assert somewhat too dismissively: "Kabul is a city of several million people ... and the percentage chance of being a victim is tiny." But Omrani and Leeming also do the country a service by pointing out what ought to be more widely known: most of Afghanistan is, in fact, very safe. This...
...illegal Burmese workers, and moved Burmese exiles living in Thailand to overcrowded border refugee camps. Thai officials say better relations with the pariah regime will not only help solve cross-border problems, such as the trafficking of narcotics, but also encourage democratic change in Burma. Critics like HRW assert, however, that the transfer of Burmese exiles is meant to stop their involvement in political activity that might offend the junta, and that the moves by Thailand, taken collectively, send a message of support for the ruling generals. "If this is the price of better relations between Rangoon and Bangkok," says...
...people, the poorer they are." Managers now are supposed to hustle in response to the same signals--interest rates, market demand, prices, profit--that guide Western businessmen. And just as the state will no longer take all profits, it will eventually stop subsidizing losses. Deng's planners bluntly assert that they are prepared to let inefficient state enterprises go bust...
...Americans abroad have become increasingly vulnerable to terrorist attacks like the Christmas-week atrocities in Rome and Vienna, Washington has recognized more than ever the utility of a quick and certain response. At the same time, the Reagan Administration has placed increased emphasis on a "new globalism" designed to assert U.S. interests abroad by providing covert and overt assistance to rebels fighting Soviet-backed regimes around the world...