Word: french
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...world in the last 30 years that development can be defined in many ways. But the combination of censorship, autocratic rule, and an oligarchic elite resented by lower classes does not bode well, particularly in times of economic downturn. If media censorship is the Chinese version of the French Bastille, perhaps the next fire at CCTV headquarters will be more than an unfortunate accident...
...impossible one. Sometime on Feb. 3 or 4, a British nuclear submarine carrying an estimated 50 nuclear warheads crashed into a French nuclear submarine with a similar payload in the depths of the Atlantic. When the event was leaked to a British newspaper on Feb. 16, both governments were quick to point out that there was no risk to the missiles on board. French defense minister Herve Morin called the collision an "incredible incident," and promised better communication with the British. Some commentators estimated the chance of two submarines intersecting in such a vast body of water...
...French officials also hope they will take charge of two important NATO outfits: one in Norfolk, Virginia, which oversees alliance reform; and an operational command center in Lisbon, Portugal. Hundreds of French officers will also assume posts in NATO institutions, including its headquarters in Brussels. Tertrais says France also wants to reassure Washington and certain E.U. capitals that France's plans to strengthen Europe's own defense can help the NATO alliance rather than undermine it. "France needs to put an end to questions in the minds of certain allies about whether its desire to construct a European defense identity...
...Sarkozy is confident the French public will see France's return to NATO as both logical and inevitable. "By keeping one foot out," Tertrais says, "France risks in some ways being on the wrong side of history." Gates and others may ask, however, how getting on the right side of history is useful if Europe won't follow through with sufficient troops when alliance forces go into action...
...decision came on a 78-to-1 vote to oust the 1,000 mostly American Forces (French and Spanish NATO-allied troops make up the rest) stationed at the Manas airbase on the outskirts of the Kyrgyzstan capital of Bishkek. The U.S. now has six months to exit the base following President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's signing the bill on Friday. But Defense Secretary Robert Gates quickly said that the U.S. ouster isn't a "closed issue." He has suggested the U.S. might be willing to pay more than the current $17 million annual rent to use the base. Bakiyev telegraphed...