Word: flopping
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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That hard line showed up first in the form of a Yeltsin flip-flop on the notion of an expanded NATO. During an August visit to Warsaw, he had declared that Polish membership in the alliance "would not be counter to Russian interests." That was taken as a green light for drawing much of the old East bloc into the alliance, and Western policy planners immediately went to work on mechanisms for membership. First to join would be the so-called Visegrad countries -- Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary -- probably by the end of the '90s. Then might come...
...advise utmost caution when thinking about moving NATO eastward," says former German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher. "We should not exclude Russia." Among the few remaining advocates of early enlargement are the hapless Central European countries with better reasons than Russia to fear for their security. Yeltsin's flip-flop caused acute anxiety in Warsaw, Prague and Budapest. "Poland's striving toward NATO is irreversible," said Foreign Minister Krzysztof Skubiszewski. "We are against placing Poland in the gray zone between East and West...
...also said his re-entry was "not a campaign ploy" to grab headlines and that the flip-flop probably hurt his contest because about two-thirds of all votes are cast on the first day of polling, which was Tuesday...
...merriment plays off an apprehension of Midler's public, if not of the star herself, that she is in a slight career trough. A decade ago, she suffered an acrimonious flop film (Jinxed) and a nervous breakdown. She rebounded into a saner life, with a doting husband and an adored daughter, and the movie stardom that had previously eluded her. But her past three films ! have fallen this side of blockbuster. Scenes from a Mall swallowed her and Woody Allen whole; Hocus Pocus was a moderately popular summer farce; she turned down the original Sister Act script to make...
Wendy's lean burger never made it past the company's taste testers, but its double cheeseburger is selling well; in August the chain plans to unveil a Big Bacon Classic in new ads featuring portly founder Dave Thomas. Burger King, which saw its Weight Watchers line of meals flop, has enlarged its fish sandwich 45% and rechristened it "the Big Fish." Kentucky Fried Chicken, after a disastrous experience with skin-free chicken, is having far more success with Popcorn Chicken II, a breaded, calorie-packed, dark-meat appetizer...