Word: feckless
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...wealth, is wrestling with high inflation and even higher rates of violent crime. Chavez suffered a rare but stinging defeat last year in a referendum on constitutional amendments that would have broadened his socialist agenda and eliminated presidential term limits. Now, he appears determined to prevent his once feckless opposition from dealing him another setback in state and local elections scheduled for November. Those races will set the tone for later parliamentary balloting, which could in turn decide whether Chavez has the palanca, or leverage, to set aside presidential term limits. (Under the current rules, he's scheduled to leave...
...that the country was a disaster area," he recalls. "Apparently I was risking my reputation by saying anything different." But not everyone responds to Iceland's plight with sympathy. Eileen Zhang, an Iceland expert at ratings agency Standard and Poor's, says cries of "Foul!" mask the country's feckless expansion: "Whether you call it an attack or you call it arbitrage, Iceland has put itself in this vulnerable position...
...apex a decade ago, one of the world's largest and fiercest insurrection forces. At the turn of the century, the Marxist-inspired FARC numbered some 20,000 fighters and controlled so much territory that it seemed it was on the verge of toppling Colombia's feckless government. "Tirofijo," one Colombian army leader commented, "is this country's only four-star general...
Allow President Pervez Musharraf a little chuckle: The general had always rationalized his military rule in Pakistan by claiming that the country's civilian politicians were too feckless and self-serving to govern effectively. And he may be feeling vindicated by the collapse of the coalition that took power in March after Pakistan's electorate delivered a stinging rebuke to Musharraf. On Monday, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated a new season of political instability by announcing that his Pakistani Muslim League (PML-N) would withdraw on Tuesday from the government led by the Pakistan People's Party...
...hawks were delighted by the revelations about Syria, hoping that the North will be so angered that Kim will abandon the six-party talks, finally bringing down the curtain on what they believe has been a feckless effort by the State Department. But Administration officials insist they don't expect that to happen. They believe North Korea 3.0 - the "shame on you" policy - may pay off. "I doubt they're walking away," says one diplomat involved in the talks. Yes, they say, North Korea's serial proliferation is a huge problem. That's why getting Pyongyang to stop making plutonium...