Word: ploy
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While Germany has argued for a more decisive approach -- despite its own purported constitutional ban on deploying troops beyond NATO's boundaries -- Britain and the Netherlands viewed Bonn's rhetoric as grandstanding, a ploy to extend German influence in Eastern Europe. The French, meanwhile, seemed "torn between their desires and what makes sense," as a senior Italian diplomat put it. Francois Mitterrand dearly wants a distinct West European "defense identity," but the French President has a Bismarckian distaste for the Balkans. "These countries," he fairly snorted two weeks ago, "have been at the origin of several great wars into which...
...folkways. And The Doctor, after a good hour or so, goes all dithery -- devoutly Californian -- as Hurt discovers the meaning of life by dancing in the desert with a terminally ill patient (Elizabeth Perkins). He resolves to support another patient's rightful claim in a malpractice suit. This redemptive ploy, also used in Regarding Henry, must be Hollywood's new prescription for wellness: to atone for one's success...
...political gambit, the method is tried and true. If you are an unpopular Vice President, refurbish your image by deriding an occupational group with an even lower approval rating than your own. Spiro Agnew popularized the ploy back in 1969 with his bitter denunciations of the news media. Following the same playbook, Vice President Dan Quayle -- a lawyer -- wangled an invitation to the American Bar Association convention in Atlanta and last week used the forum to mount a blistering attack on the legal profession...
...Israeli invasion. The Lebanese government has steadily maintained that all four are dead. In addition, although Hizballah hinted privately last week that its vague demand for the release of the thousands of Palestinians detained by Israel during the uprising in the occupied territories was just a bargaining ploy that could be dropped, Ahmed Jibril, a radical Palestinian leader with strong ties to Syria, < specifically called for their release. A senior British diplomat warns, "It's impossible to tell whether he was speaking for himself, his group, the Palestine Liberation Organization or all of them...
...Bush Administration's reluctance to grant Israel's request for $10 billion in housing-loan guarantees may not be just a ploy to press the Shamir government to talk peace with its Arab neighbors. Some of Bush's advisers make an economic argument: they see little difference between Israel's economy and the state-run mess in the Soviet Union. "We've had some suggestions -- including some from Israelis -- that the worst thing we can do is send a $10 billion loan guarantee to the socialist system in place in Israel," says a senior official. Bush is considering a plan...