Word: downplay
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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After announcing the U.S. decision to participate in Middle East discussions with the Soviets, Administration officials quickly sought to downplay their importance. Reason: there was speculation that Washington was at least considering a reversal of its opposition to Moscow's participation in Middle East peace negotiations. A day after the meetings were set, Reagan declared unequivocally: "We definitely are not in support of an idea of a great international conference on the Middle East." As a British official explained, "Such a conference would give the Soviets a virtual veto on anything they disliked...
Even before Mikhail Gorbachev, 53, the fast-rising heir apparent in the Kremlin, touched down last Saturday at London's Heathrow Airport, British officials were busy trying to downplay the importance of his eight-day official visit. The British feared that the trip would focus too much Western attention on his status as the most likely successor to Soviet Leader Konstantin Chernenko. That in turn might weaken Gorbachev's chances and strengthen those of his chief rival for the job, Grigori Romanov, 61, a fellow Politburo member widely considered to be a dogmatic hardliner. Nonetheless, Prime Minister Margaret...
...creation of a very large industry." Harvey Fineberg, dean of Harvard's School of Public Health, attributes fully one-third of the past decade's increase in Medicare costs to the increased use of high-tech medicine, particularly surgical and diagnostic procedures. "I don't mean to downplay the bravery of this individual," Fineberg says of last week's artificial-heart recipient, "but someone has to speak up for the thousands of people whose names are not on everybody's lips, who are dying just as surely as Mr. Schroeder, and whose deaths are preventable...
...acceptable means of preventing conception. As the Vatican's chief delegate said at the International Conference on Population in Mexico City last August, Roman Catholic teaching not only is unchanged but "has been reaffirmed with new vigor." Despite the hopes of some liberals that the Vatican would eventually downplay or even soften the birth control ban, John Paul has pressed the issue. He wants to establish the church's view strongly for future generations...
Some shark authorities downplay the dangers of Great Whites, which they consider magnificent scavengers that have successfully lived through 30 million years of evolution virtually unchanged. Sharks, they declare, play a necessary role as the garbage collectors of the sea, indiscriminately devouring flotsam ranging from fish carcasses to old tin cans. Most important, say shark admirers, the number of people killed by Great Whites over the centuries is small, far less than those who die from lightning strikes or snake bites. But in the Red Triangle, at least, it is still not safe to go back in the water...