Word: blandings
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...halt nuclear proliferation, and pledging to make progress on ongoing talks aimed at reducing conventional forces in Europe and outlawing chemical weapons, they offered no guidance on how these goals would be achieved. Despite the Soviet practice of avoiding the topic of human rights, the statement offered some bland language that "the two leaders agreed on the importance of resolving humanitarian cases in the spirit of cooperation." The summiteers announced they would carry out an agreement, signed earlier, that was aimed at improving air safety in the North Pacific, and thus avoiding a repetition of the Soviet downing of Korean...
...Saussure. At 10 p.m. the party repaired to the library for coffee, and Reagan and Gorbachev settled on a red sofa, an embroidered cushion between them and their aides huddled around. Shultz quietly advised that negotiations at the staff level were not going well. Then Shultz, so seemingly bland in his public utterances, took a bold step. He dramatically pointed across the room to a Soviet official, Georgi Korniyenko, and declared, "You, Mr. Korniyenko, are responsible for this. Mr. General Secretary, this man is not doing what you want. He is not working in your best interests...
...long ago it was generally supposed that one kind of building was suitable to almost every modern purpose. Corporate offices? Put up a plain box, a big one. A university? Put up a couple of plain boxes, medium size. A civic building? Another box, and make it bland...
Today's newspaper is an odd mix of "fair" news, bland editorials and strong views of licensed polemicists. Fairness is not required of the polemicists; it would dull their act. These merchants of anger and scorn range from Mary McGrory's liberalism to the caustic contentiousness of William Buckley, George Will, James Kilpatrick and William Safire (those on the right now have the momentum, the self-assurance and the numbers...
...time, Japanese officials are trying to bolster the country's exports through intervention in the currency markets. Says Bank of Japan Governor Satoshi Sumita: "We strongly hope the market will stabilize." Despite those politely phrased misgivings, the official Japanese presummit position, from Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yoshio Hatano, is a bland assertion that "the economic conditions in the summit countries are good. We should try to maintain and promote this situation...