Word: powerless
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...that the continent that bred the majority of consequential leaders in history now suddenly finds itself in history’s right lane, rapidly passed by countries it considered barbaric and infantile not even a 100 years ago? How has Europe come to a situation where it is virtually powerless to change the behavior of Iran, a country that was a third-rate backwater barely 60 years ago and a second-rate despotism not even 30 years past...
...other, spiritual, is more complex. These two factors have left Europe increasingly feeble in both thought and deed and have made the continent—once history’s great driving force—into a mere spectator, alternately cheering and booing from the sidelines but powerless to affect the outcome...
...were signs that lobbying and ethics reforms might be yet another Washington fad that would soon pass. Republican Roy Blunt, then running for the post of House Majority Leader, defended earmarks-money doled out for specific projects in congressional districts. And House Speaker Dennis Hastert, unable to blame the powerless Democrats for the growth in earmarks, found the next best scapegoat, saying the projects grew because "the Senate plays appropriation games...
...free renewable, nuclear, or clean coal energy sources. Moreover, investment in the area in the long run would stimulate economic growth by creating new jobs and putting the U.S. back on the cutting edge of energy technology. Unfortunately, it seems that President Bush has answered the praiseworthy, yet ultimately powerless, calls for an energy initiative on the scale of the Manhattan Project—frequent refrains of Thomas Friedman of The New York Times and the Apollo Alliance of Washington, D.C.—with an empty, echoing, “Yeah, that is a good idea...
...Iwuamadi Lagos Bono's expectant and optimistic essay on how to fight disease in poor countries set just the right tone. In the '80s and '90s, TV commercials depicting dirty, hungry children were detrimental to aid work abroad. Instead of rousing Americans into action, such images made them feel powerless. Work on improving health in the developing world is just that: a job that humanitarian workers, scientists and philanthropists undertake with realistic expectations. It has been a hard struggle in some respects (preventing the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic), but there are huge successes (the measles vaccination campaign). Thanks...