Word: discreet
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Despite the happy ending to the Bulgarians' ordeal, however, there has been criticism of the high-profile way Sarkozy snatched up the E.U.'s previous, discreet efforts to resolve the stand-off. Similar grumbling was heard in France and around Europe over the deployment of Sarkozy's wife, Cécilia, as an emissary to Libya twice in the last ten days of negotiations, as well as her presence on the presidential plane and on the Sofia tarmac with the returning Bulgarians. Critics have claimed the move was an attempt to cast France's First Lady into a quasi-official...
...While freedom for the Bulgarians and Palestinian will bring a universal sigh of relief, some hackles have been raised in Brussels over what some consider Sarkozy's grandstanding in the affair. EU officials have recently groused at seeing their discreet, prolonged efforts to secure the Bulgarians' release snatched up by the new French President. Others have admitted shock at seeing Sarkozy's wife used down as a proxy to both negotiate and act as a photo-op stand-in with the prisoners following their release. French officials deny such cynicism is involved, and say all anyone wants is freedom...
...Though it has long been an unabashedly public activity among young people and residents of the banlieue housing projects, it's also been an open secret for some time now that the hipper members of the nation's affluent business and political classes aren't averse to a discreet puff. Indeed, France's cannabis culture has become so prevalent that the use of the word petard is as likely to refer to a joint as to its more literal meaning, "firecracker." Myriad nicknames for hash and marijuana have passed into the modern lexicon, such as chichon, beuh, teuteu, matos...
Sources tell TIME that, since the attack, there have been discreet contacts between some UNIFIL contingents and Hizballah representatives. UNIFIL is supposed to confine liaison to the Lebanese army, and Graziano said that direct contacts between UNIFIL troops and Hizballah, or any other Lebanese political party, was "highly forbidden". But keeping some type of contact may be critical to UNIFIL's mission. The goal of the informal communications is partly to harness Hizballah's local intelligence gathering abilities, but also to ensure that the powerful Shi'ite group remains supportive of UNIFIL. The unspoken fear among some peacekeepers is that...
...someone else. There was a tranquility about him and a good nature that was close to awesome. There were also things that he omitted from his story - especially about the other men with whom he was imprisoned - that lent an air of mystery to his tale that was both discreet and intriguing...