The most important foreign affairs events of the week

April 17, 2023

“On Monday, the conflict between rival armed factions escalated and turned Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, into a warzone. Since then, violence between the army and a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has left thousands of injured people in the country. In 2019, the military toppled long-time leader Omar al-Bashir in 2019 after mass protests. It then overthrew a power-sharing government in 2021, putting two men at the helm: The head of the army and his deputy, who is also the head of the RSF. Leading Arab states and the US have urged a resumption of talks aimed at restoring a civilian government, while the African Union has announced that it is sending its top diplomat, Moussa Faki Mahamat, to try to negotiate a ceasefire.”

Click here to read more about the issue.

The transitive verb topple means “to bring about the downfall, destruction, or ending of.” Close synonyms are “overthrow”, “oust”, and “overturn”.

The transitive verb urge means “to force or drive forward or onward; to entreat earnestly and often repeatedly.” Close synonyms are “impel”, “exhort”, and “insist on”.

April 18, 2023

“On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of the Group of 7 nations affirmed their shared visions on Russia’s war on Ukraine and China’s assertiveness, drawing a firm line on tight cooperation on security as well as economic issues. The show of unity came after a monthslong diplomatic charm offensive by Xi Jinping, China’s leader, in which he made a point of courting European officials in Beijing and trying to peel them away from the United States. But the discussions in Japan failed to address the thorniest issue in the countries’ dealings with China: how to reconcile their opposition to Beijing’s strategic and military goals with continuing to maintain deep trade ties with the world’s second-largest economy.”

Click here to read more about the issue.

The noun assertiveness derives from the adjective assertive, which means “inclined to bold or confident assertion; aggressively self-assured.”

The adjective thorny means “controversial, problematic, or vexatious; difficult or unpleasant.”

April 19, 2023

“On Wednesday, the United Nations released new data confirming that India will soon surpass China as the most populous country. The milestone is focusing attention on both India’s potential to become a global power and the significant challenges that it faces. Today, China is vastly richer than India, but that is a relatively recent phenomenon. In the late 1970s, India was more affluent (based on the most telling measure, economic output per person). Since then, the two countries have followed very different paths. China’s GDP per capita ($12,556) is more than four times higher than India’s ($2,256). A second factor is education. China’s population has long been more educated than India’s, with higher literacy rates and larger shares of people completing grade school, high school and college.”

Click here to read more about the issue.

The transitive verb surpass means “to be beyond the limit, powers, or capacity of; transcend; To do more than or be superior to.”

The adjective affluent means “generously supplied with money, property, or possessions; prosperous or rich. 

April 20, 2023

“On Thursday, NATO’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, visited Kyiv for the first time since Russia’s invasion nearly 14 months ago and affirmed that Ukraine’s “rightful place” was in the North Atlantic alliance. Mr. Stoltenberg said the issue of Ukraine’s NATO membership would be “high on the agenda” at a NATO summit in Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, in July. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has even been invited to attend this NATO summit. However, There is division among NATO countries about whether Ukraine should be offered any kind of detailed “road map” toward membership at the Vilnius summit. By contrast, Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters on Thursday that an Ukrainian ascension to NATO “would pose a serious, substantial threat to our country and its security.”

Click here to read more about the issue.

The transitive verb attend means “to be present at; to be present, as at a scheduled event.”

The noun spokesman means “a man who speaks on behalf of another or others.”

April 21, 2023

“Lebanon continues its months-long presidential vacuum, a political turmoil that has been deepening the country’s institutional paralysis and worsening an economic crisis that has festered for years. As China brokered a recent Saudi-Iran deal, a glimmer of hope has emerged in the Middle East, especially in Lebanon. The rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia has had a detrimental effect on the stability of Lebanon, a small Mediterranean country whose ruling elite has long been aligned with foreign powers to maintain influence and economic stability. The Saudi-Iran agreement, which is set to lead to a full restoration of diplomatic ties between the two countries following a seven-year rupture, has the potential to remake the regional order. Unfortunately, the deal looks to be more stagnant in the face of the presidential deadlock among Lebanon’s rival parliamentary blocs.”

Click here to read more about the issue.

The intransitive verb fester means “to become or cause to become bitter, irritated, etc, especially over a long period of time; rankle.” 

The noun deadlock means “a standstill resulting from the opposition of two unrelenting forces or factions; a state of affairs in which further action between two opposing forces is impossible; stalemate.”