Word: quids
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...stumbling block is U.S. insistence that the Russians scrap their entire post-START arsenal of 154 land-based SS-18 missiles, each of which carries 10 warheads. Yeltsin demands as a quid pro quo that the U.S. dismantle its fleet of multiple-warhead Trident submarine-based missiles. After a final meeting with U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev reported "good progress" but added that "the rest will depend on our Presidents...
...come to mutually beneficial agreements in Rio on the environment and development. Meeting in Washington last June, a group of activists, businessmen and politicians agreed that poorer southern nations would have an easier time accepting unpalatable initiatives on population stabilization, climate change and deforestation in return for a substantial quid pro quo. Its elements: debt forgiveness, direct financial aid to help end poverty, and technical help to reduce the poor nations' role in global environmental problems...
Well, let's consider what sexual harassment is, starting with the grossest, most obvious case, the kind in which there is both "touching" and an explicit quid pro quo: Do this, and you'll get an A. Come in here with me for a moment, and then we'll talk about that promotion or that bonus or whether you're going to have a job tomorrow. Even a Senator, I should think, would see the crime in this. At best, it's sex for pay. At worst, it's a nonviolent variant of rape in which sex is extracted under...
...suppose there's no explicit quid pro quo, just a friendly invitation to party. As either of our two female Senators could have explained without reference to notes, men and women do not yet meet on what is exactly a level playing field. Nine times out of 10, it's the male who has the power, the female who must flatter, cajole and make a constant effort to please. If she turns him down, her career may begin to slide. She won't get the best job assignments. He might not be around when she needs help someday -- as Hill...
Finally, suppose there's no touching, no tableau, no quid pro quo -- just a crude exploratory gambit along the lines of "Hiya, babe, you wanna . . . ?" Here too some moral Rubicon has been crossed. Intimacy in a public setting is not just "inappropriate," in the prissy, yuppie sense. It can be deeply insulting, which is why a misapplied tu in French or du in German can be a fighting word. When we leave our homes to go to work, we assume an impersonal role like "teacher," "secretary" or "judge." We may even don a special costume (black robes, skirted suit...