Word: undercutting
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...sneer than sob. Perhaps sensing his emotional limitations, Elvis recorded "Big Tears" on a single last year, in which he accused his partner of calculated crying, empty tears, while dissolving into sobs himself. It was a pretty good song (though not good enough for inclusion on Armed Forces, undercut by an unexpansive melody and Costello's lack of vocal control). The concept reappears on Get Happy!! in "B Movie," this time with a meaner, more controlled vocal; but the style, the emotion, is successfully rendered in "Riot Act." Hanging on every heavy, condemnatory thump of Pete Thomas's drum...
...problem that bothers American career diplomats is what they call "back channeling"?that is, top officials circumventing ambassadors in ways that undercut their relationship with the capitals to which they have been appointed. A classic case in point: key negotiations with the U.S.S.R. in the Nixon, Ford and Carter Administrations have usually been carried out by Secretaries of State directly with longtime Soviet Ambassador Anatoli Dobrynin. Former Ambassador to Moscow Malcolm Toon, a career diplomat for 33 years, thinks this exclusive use of the "Washington channel" is all wrong. Says Toon: "As I told Vance a couple of times...
Both Carter and Vance have repeatedly criticized Israel's policy of expanding its settlements on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. As Washington sees it, the new settlements undercut the efforts of Special Middle East Envoy Sol Linowitz to get a meaningful agreement between Egypt and Israel on autonomy for the Palestinian inhabitants of these occupied areas. When the Israeli Cabinet on Feb. 10 approved in principle the right of Jews to settle even in the Arab-populated West Bank town of Hebron, Carter felt that Israel had gone too far. Both at the White House...
...decision. Government insiders in Tehran contend that the Ayatullah could not afford to favor either side. If he instructed the militants to release their captives, he would lose face: until a month ago he had defended the hostage taking. If he sided with the militants, he would drastically undercut Banisadr and his attempts to fashion a stable government. Said a Western diplomat: "To look at the bright side, Khomeini is in effect telling the students it is not their business to decide the fate of the hostages...
...agree with Drs. Curran and Cass-cells [Feb. 4] that for physicians to be involved in administering lethal injections in cases of capital punishment "would constitute a cruel and unusual breach of medical ethics." The Hippocratic oath-already eroded by legalized abortion -would be further undercut, and the physician's historic mission as healer would again be compromised by such a death-dealing task...