Word: contrasting
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Alliot-Marie acknowledged that the tally of car-burnings had indeed increased over the previous year. Yet Alliot-Marie also said the enormous fleet of now carbonized vehicles shouldn't darken a New Year's Eve that was "unanimously considered mostly calm." Alliot-Marie also stressed that - in contrast to recent years - the first night of 2009 saw "no damage to public or private buildings." Perhaps, but that was probably little comfort to the people who were forced to walk or make long commutes on public transport after finding their cars melted down...
...resolve of Cairo and Ramallah to keep Hamas' hands off Rafah. But Cairo and Ramallah may be hoping that the punishment inflicted on Gaza by Israel will prompt Palestinians to turn on Hamas. So far, the smart money says that Abbas is paying the higher political price. By contrast, Israel's current leaders may have slightly improved their chances of reeling in the lead of the more hawkish former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the February election - although that could change if the operation ends badly from an Israeli point of view...
...Hans Martens, chief executive of the European Policy Centre, says the new presidency will be a stark contrast to the French one, which boldly tackled big issues like the Russia-Georgia conflict, the economic crisis and the E.U.'s emissions-cutting policies. "We have just had a very active French presidency, and with Sarkozy, a showman in the driving seat," Martens says. "The Czech government will aim to drive the team forward, but Klaus won't take a low profile. He won't be able to resist temptation to be provocative and do symbolic things that annoy...
...important reason is that the driving cause of the crisis is external, in contrast to 1989, when the protests were sparked by anger over corruption, inflation and other domestic issues. "I simply don't see any kind of nationwide challenge to the Party emerging because you can't blame them for what's happening, it's coming from outside China," says Cheng Li, a China scholar at Washington's Brookings Institute. Li points out that, as it has been at pains to point out regularly in the official media, the government's reaction has been swift and decisive, including everything...
...Another contrast to 1989 is the fact that the Party's leadership is solidly united about how this crisis needs to be tackled so as to best preserve its authority. Internal disputes about how to handle the Tiananmen protest allowed them to drag on for months and swell in size. This time, says Li, although they may disagree about some of the details, there is solidarity at the highest level to avoid any sign of a split among the top leadership. "This generation of leaders had two defining experiences in their lives," says Li, "the Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen. From...