Word: flashpoint
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...mean for the world economy. Some see the problem as little more than a big real estate bust. "I don't see what the big deal is," Willem Buiter, economist at the London School of Economics and Political Science, wrote bluntly. Others see the Dubai crisis as the potential flashpoint for a new stage of the global crisis, a sign that heavily indebted sovereign states might begin having trouble financing their deficits, or that investors will reassess their exposure to risky emerging markets in some kind of financial "contagion." BofA Merrill Lynch strategists postulated in a report that "one cannot...
...more drastic proposed service cuts—announced by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences on May 11 as part of a $77 million budget cut package—became a flashpoint for student criticism of the administration’s decision-making process, which many felt did not allow undergraduates sufficient input...
...once in power, he drew close to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and quickly copied his formula for popularity: giving handouts to the poor and blaming all the country's problems on the rich. Amid rising crime and a spluttering economy, the establishment turned on Zelaya. The flashpoint came in June, when he called for a nonbinding referendum on changing the constitution to allow Presidents to stand for a second term. The Supreme Court ruled the vote illegal and soldiers whisked Zelaya away before it could take place, leaving Congressman Roberto Micheletti to be sworn...
...photo flap - and continuing controversy over the use of waterboarding and other extreme interrogation techniques - has shown, treatment of detainees remains a flashpoint. Some Democrats and human-rights activists are upset over the Obama Administration's decision to endorse the Bush Administration's view that prisoners at Afghanistan's Bagram base have no right to challenge their detention in U.S. courts. In a prison closer to home, the Administration is fitfully grappling with Obama's pledge to close the Guantanamo prison next January, perhaps by holding some suspected terrorists indefinitely on U.S. soil. House Democrats are so upset with...
...pressure on our trading partners will be reduced. Many countries with whom we don't have diplomatic ties come to us now and say they feel a bit relieved, that if Beijing is ready to improve relations with you, why can't we? Taiwan is no longer a flashpoint in East Asia, and that's what we want. Opinion polls show the majority, sometimes a great majority, support our policies, but we still need to talk to our opposition. They always believe we are selling out Taiwan, but I keep telling everyone, "Listen, we're not selling out Taiwan...