Word: sphere
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...clearly getting some buzz, there's a novelty effect. At a time when everybody is going to be competing around November to get attention, this is a good opportunity to potentially get in front of the line." Blackshaw, who monitors how brands are perceived in the social-networking sphere, says the Christmas marketing has gotten positive feedback on Twitter. (See 10 ways Twitter will change American business...
...same lucrative prize and are judged by the same measure. The best example of this is the South Korean president, Lee Myung-Bak. Lee grew up as the penniless son of an agricultural laborer but he aced the CSAT, got into Korea University, and was vaulted into a sphere of job opportunities completely beyond the reach of his father. Sure, wealthy students have access to more personal tutoring and highly rated cram schools, but with hard academic work, every Korean has the chance to earn a higher place in society...
...from the other is plain enough. The U.S. would like Russia to endorse and enforce tougher action to combat the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea and to quit bullying democratic neighbors like Ukraine and Georgia. Russia would like the U.S. to recognize that it has its own sphere of influence in the "near abroad" - the territory of the old Soviet Union - and halt NATO's expansion to the east. More generally, Moscow would like some respect. "The Russians want to belong. They want to feel big," says Finland's Foreign Minister, Alexander Stubb, who has met with both...
Most importantly, perhaps, Russia is incensed about E.U. efforts to draw the countries that lie between the E.U. and Russia closer into its orbit. Russia has traditionally regarded Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and other former Soviet states along its border as its "privileged sphere of influence," in the words of President Dmitry Medvedev. The E.U.'s new "Eastern Partnership" initiative, launched in May, offers these countries economic integration and stronger political ties. Although the E.U. has shied away from talking about the prospect of membership, however distant, it hopes to help its eastern neighbors to become richer, more stable and more...
...Sphere of influence" is a term of diplomatic art, which is often invoked by the Russian government and Western nations in discussing plans for a NATO expansion and the European Commission's Eastern Partnership effort. In his speech, Obama distinguished between Europe's efforts to grow its diplomatic relations with former Soviet bloc countries and Russia's efforts to keep significant influence over its neighboring nations. "America will never impose a security arrangement on another country. For any country to become a member of an organization like NATO, for example, a majority of its people must choose to [join]," Obama...