Word: blackmail
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...regarded as antiChristian. We can be revolted at My Lai and not be anti-American. We can scorn Iran's Ayatullah and not be anti-Muslim. But we can never even question Israel's actions against the Arabs lest we be branded antiSemitic. That is psychological blackmail...
During the 1976 presidential primaries, Ronald Reagan accused the Ford Administration of maintaining a "mouselike silence" in the face of "blackmail" from Panama's "dictator," General Omar Torrijos. Reagan repeatedly used a line guaranteed to get applause: "When it comes to the Canal, we built it, we paid for it, it's ours and we should tell Torrijos and Co. that we are going to keep it!" Reagan's position appealed to many Americans because he presented the issue, simplistically, as a test of our nation's power and greatness...
...financial rewards of espionage have created some strange and frightening partners. Among those attracted to high-technology centers have been professional criminals who resort to blackmail, bribery and the use of sex to obtain equipment and proprietary information...
...continuing allegations of gangland associations: and so are William Casey and William French Smith, in spite of disclosure of their financial mixdealings. And there is no sign that James Watt is on the way out, despite the furor over his letter to Israeli Ambassaror Moshe Areins which somewhat to blackmail American Jews into supporting his slash and burn land use policies Reagan seems confident that his adoring fans will forgive members of his supporting cast...
Logically, however, this position makes little sense. Pentagon officials, as well as the President, have long argued that the pipeline will make European allies vulnerable to Soviet energy blackmail and that gas sales will give the Soviets billions in hard cash that they can use to speed their military buildup. The release of Walesa would not change these strategic calculations. It has become increasingly clear that Washington's hopes of blocking the pipeline were slim. At most, American sanctions might delay construction, and that hardly seemed worth the cost in European ill-will. The White House clearly underestimated...