Word: westernizes
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...became a headache for Colombo: a strategic redoubt, shored up with artillery, that shielded the base of operations of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (L.T.T.E.), one of the world's most dogged insurgent groups. But on Nov. 15, government forces seized Pooneryn, giving Colombo full control over its western seaboard for the first time in over a decade. The government called for a week of celebrations...
...does not take a Putinologist to figure out the three basics of Russian strategy: court Western Europe, intimidate Eastern Europe, and split both off from the U.S. "Divide and conquer" is a classic of Russian policy, and the courtship always centers on Germany, the strategic fulcrum of the continent...
...make the point, the Kremlin has been turning its gas pipelines on and off. That got the attention of Ukraine, Belarus and the Czechs. To cow Poland it slapped an embargo on meat imports, pitting the angry Poles against their not-so-supportive Western neighbors. The most recent gambit is the threat to install short-range missiles in Kaliningrad or Belarus - as if those 10 American antiballistic missiles slated for deployment in Poland were aimed straight at the Kremlin's men's room. Of course, they are not. They are intended as a hedge against an Iranian nuclear threat...
...even in Japan, the President-Elect of the United States is a media darling. Well before this month's election, Obama fever was in full swing in a small town in western Japan called Obama, where residents formed hula teams in homage of the politician's Hawaii years. Ten months ago, Notchi didn't even know who Barack Obama was until his wife mentioned he looked like the up-and-coming politician. "I thought Obama was a pro wrestler or a fighter or something," the comedian recalls, wearing the dark suit - originally purchased for weddings and funerals - that he uses...
...Western military deployments are certainly having an impact in the area. Last weekend British marines attacked a Yemeni-flagged fishing vessel that had unsuccessfully attacked a Danish container ship. Eight pirates were arrested and turned over to the Kenyan authorities in what Britain's Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth said was a "strong message to pirates that their activities are unacceptable and that the global community is united in its efforts to deter and disrupt them...