Word: ironizing
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Perhaps without Mobuto's iron hand and corrupt body politic, Zaire would have fragmented long ago. Perhaps the blood Mobuto has shed is less than the blood that would have spilled were it not for his autocratic rule...
...business. "Everyone is paid the same at our place, even though many are willing to work harder for more money," says Choy. "But my Chinese government partners don't want to upset those who are lazy by allocating bonuses according to merit. They have their own version of the iron rice bowl, and they don't care if incentives will result in greater productivity and more profit. To a businessman their attitude is insane. But they are happy if they turn just a little profit, because they know that that will satisfy their higher-ups and that everyone will then...
...strapping six-footer, Bi "got into the weight-lifting craze about two years ago, when it was big." He still pumps iron each morning before breakfast, which he takes at a local restaurant with four colleagues. Eating out is actually cheaper than cooking at home for Bi, since coal is very expensive. Besides, Bi is saving for new eyeglasses. He hates his thick lenses and believes he would not need them if he had grown up in the West. "Until about five years ago, we didn't have electricity," he says. "I read by candlelight till then. My eyes...
...dramatic stampede of more than 14,000 East Germans into West Germany last week followed Hungary's decision to grant the refugees passage across its border with Austria. The ensuing crush marked the largest mass exodus from behind the Iron Curtain since the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961. True, the flow was a trickle compared with the hemorrhage of 3 million East Germans to the West between 1949 and 1961. But this time there was the remarkable sight of Hungary bucking its Communist ally to assist the East German refugees in their quest to begin new lives...
...thousands of East Germans making the trek westward was a handful of Rumanians and Soviets. That trickle could portend problems for all of Europe. While the Germans are a special case with their historic claims to a single nationhood, other East Europeans are eyeing Hungary's hole in the Iron Curtain and fantasizing about life on the other side...