Word: undercuttings
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...Still, intervening would undercut Sarkozy's efforts to move France beyond Françafrique, its half-century old policy of intervening in former colonies to prop up friendly dictators. Sarkozy had made it clear he wants to end such arrangements and favor greater democracy, events in Chad have left no good option. "I didn't want direct intervention before a precise legal framework" had been outlined, Sarkozy said Tuesday, insisting that the U.N. vote changed the equation. "We're no longer in what was called Françafrique. There are international rules, and I want to conform to them...
...reign resemble the political version of Survivor. Even Berlusconi, who burst onto the political scene in 1994 with billionaire bravado, has become a shadow of his former self, talking obscure Roman political jargon and cutting deals with anyone who will help him win back power. That effort is undercut by the fact that Italians have now learned that mere survival, which Berlusconi achieved for a post-war record of five years until 2006, is not the same thing as stability...
...intensity of these problems is so obvious, even the Republicans - especially John McCain, Mike Huckabee and the latest edition of Mitt Romney - are talking about them. But G.O.P. credibility is undercut by its antediluvian Reaganism: its reflexive opposition to any solution - and therefore any sense of nonmilitary national purpose - coming out of Washington...
...failure to return the lost territories seriously undercut Saakashvili at home. Many began to grumble about his reform not improving their living conditions fast enough. Complaints arose that his macro-reform was adversely affecting ordinary businessmen and traders. A crackdown on the black market in cigarettes and alcohol left thousands of street vendors without jobs. Growing incomes are offset by rising inflation and these reforms have made many Georgians pay tax and utilities bills in full. The government is also dramatically increasing the defense budget instead of raising pensions. The opposition, represented by nine parties, invoked Saakashvili's increasingly authoritarian...
...prompting a wave of investment in alternative energy that crashed as soon as petroleum prices dropped. Transitioning from fossil fuels to clean power will be a long, fraught process, and investors - whether they're pushing ethanol, hybrids or something new - need long-term certainty that they won't be undercut by old, dirty fuels dipping down to cheaper prices again. "That risk [of volatility] makes consumers and investors alike very reluctant to bank on high prices," says Greene. It doesn't make sense to spend hundreds of millions on an ethanol plant if the Saudis can undercut you by turning...