Word: vicious
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...would jeopardize his standing either in Iraq or in the Middle East. Many Western analysts believe Saddam would not be so foolish as to initiate a first strike against Israel, a move that would invite only his destruction. At the same time, they warn that he is capable of vicious retaliation and caution against attempts to isolate him, which might provoke his use of outlawed weapons...
...year civil war in the early 1980s drove farmers to abandon their land and livestock, swarms of once docile domestic pigs and their offspring returned to the wild, rooting up the earth in peasants' gardens and devouring cassava, sweet potato and groundnut crops. With their powerful sense of smell, vicious temperament and high birthrate -- sows can bear litters of up to 15 young four times a year -- the beasts are a formidable new enemy for local peasants. Moving mostly in darkness and traveling up to 20 miles a night, the wild pigs have cut local food production by half...
ARTFUL equivocations art even worse; lynx-eyed sly little rascals that we are, we see right through them. (Up to exam 40. Then our lynx eyes droop, and grading habits relax. Try to get on the bottom of the pile.) Again, it is not that A.E.'s are vicious or ludicrous as such; but in quantity they become sheer madness. Or induce it. "The 20th century has never recovered from the effects of Marx and Freud" (V.G.); "but whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is difficult to say." (A.E.) Now one such might be droll enough...
Each week brings fresh news of vicious attacks, racist slurs and intimidation on campus. The Carnegie Foundation details the "breakdown of civility" and the risks ahead for colleges trying to rebuild community. At Harvard, a black law professor votes with his feet: until the university adds a "woman of color" to the tenured faculty, Derrick Bell is on strike...
...less from the British writer-director Peter Greenaway, who with The Draughtsman's Contract and A Zed and Two Noughts revealed his gifts as a creator of murals on the subject of ruthless gamesmanship. His stories are hot, his style cool. His new film is the tale of a vicious crook (Michael Gambon) who dines nightly at a posh restaurant with his gang and his luscious, abused wife (Helen Mirren). Her pleasures are furtive but sweet: between courses she tiptoes out of his sight and has lovely sex with another diner (Alan Howard). When the thief discovers them, there...