Word: deflective
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Israeli officials may have publicized the theory about Hamas' ties in the U.S. and the arrests of the Americans in order to deflect attention from the fracas over the deported Palestinians. The U.S. -- and most of the world -- thought the move was a blunder, putting Israel on the defensive. "We've had to conduct an uphill struggle to make our case understandable," says Dromi. "The more facts that expose the nature and magnitude of this threat, the better Israel's case...
...calculate that for objects having diameters of 100 m or more that are spotted late in the game and intercepted at a distance any closer than about 150 million km (93 million miles), only nuclear explosives pack enough wallop to avert disaster. At that distance, the energy needed to deflect a 2-km-wide (1 1/4-mile) object enough to spare Earth is about the equivalent of a 1-megaton nuclear explosion. If the object gets to about a tenth of that distance, the energy required is 100 megatons, more powerful than any nuclear device yet exploded...
...only from a few months to two years before passing Earth. Should one suddenly appear on a collision course, traveling as fast as 217,000 km/h (135,000 m.p.h.) relative to Earth, defenders would not have the luxury of years of observation and of using a small explosion to deflect it. A quick nuclear bang would be needed...
...Saddam's primary audience was elsewhere. His chest-pounding provocations were a classic barbarians-at-the-gate strategy, designed to deflect attention from the dismal economic situation at home, heightened by U.N. sanctions, that has left Iraqis hunting daily for food. His police apparatus has reasserted its grip since the war, so citizens harbor few doubts that Saddam is still in charge. But he may have cause to worry about his 400,000-man armed forces. Kurds and other opponents have spread stories of anti-Saddam moles within the armed forces, particularly those stationed far from Baghdad. "I think...
Minority groups have charged Clark with pressuring Wald to quit in an attempt to deflect attention from his handling of the issue of minority and women faculty hiring. The groups also said that Clark may have perceived Wald as being too receptive to student demands...