Word: pragmatist
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...upside down." That cynicism, though, seems to be as outdated in Moscow as vodka-swigging parties. Said one elderly Muscovite: "It's good to have a nice young man like Gorbachev in charge." Indeed, the Soviet leader proved that underneath his aura of charm there is a rock-hard pragmatist and a firm adversary of the U.S. And he left no doubt whatever that he is, completely and confidently, in charge...
...other words, Boulez is a pragmatist. At the Philharmonic, he gradually broadened his repertoire to include a variety of musical styles; in opera the would-be dynamiter turned out to be an effective Wagnerian. At his brainchild, IRCAM, Boulez's fellow composers have great stylistic latitude. "I cannot make my personal taste the main criterion," he says. "I am more tolerant than my reputation...
...significance of the struggle between the Marxist factions, which has both ideological and tribal overtones, is equally murky. Former President Ismail is a Moscow-line ideologue who caused endless mischief for his more conservative Arab neighbors. He was succeeded in 1980 by Muhammad, a pragmatist who sought closer ties with neighboring North Yemen, Oman and Saudi Arabia...
...role, Walters describes himself as "a pragmatist tinged with idealism." He favors a policy of "constructive ambiguity" to disarm his opponents, explaining, "I know how unpleasant surprises are to me, and so I'm going to try to make it equally unpleasant for them." He is fond of the canape-and-cocktail aspects of the job. A bachelor, he spends long hours entertaining U.N. diplomats in his apartment at the Waldorf Towers and visiting their delegations around Manhattan. "I believe that in an environment like the U.N.," he says, "you get a lot more with sugar than you do with...
There is Ronald Reagan the pragmatist, the leader who despite his brutally frank rhetoric avoids dangerous confrontation, the bargainer who bids high and then, often at the last moment, splits the difference...