Monday, December 5
“Russia has postponed a scheduled meeting to discuss the last remaining nuclear arms treaty with the United States. The meeting was set to review the implementation agenda of the New START treaty, which was renewed for five years by Vladimir ...
The most important foreign affairs events of the week | ||
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November 28, 2022 | ||
“Russia has postponed a scheduled meeting to discuss the last remaining nuclear arms treaty with the United States. The meeting was set to review the implementation agenda of the New START treaty, which was renewed for five years by Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden months after the American President took office in 2021. The United States hopes to resume inspections of Russian nuclear sites to verify Moscow’s compliance with the 2010 treaty. However, Russia refuses to accept new inspections due to the sanctions imposed by the US government.” | ||
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The expression take office means “assume an office, duty, responsibility or title.” There is no such thing as “assumed/began the mandate.” There are a lot of antonyms, however: “leave office”, “step down”, “quit”, and “resign”. | ||
The transitive verb resume means “To begin or take up again after interruption.” Close synonyms are “restart”, “recommence”, and “reinstitute”. Watch out for the false cognate in Portuguese: "resumir" is NOT "resume", but rather "summarize". | ||
November 29, 2022 | ||
“Pakistan’s new military chief took command of the country’s armed forces on Tuesday amid a deepening political rift between the government and the popular opposition leader, as well as a renewed threat from a key militant group that has been behind scores of deadly attacks over 15 years. The Pakistani army has historically held great political power in the country, especially after aligning with the US in the so called ‘War on Terror’, which provoked the radicalization of local militants. One of the key challenges faced by the country’s new army chief, Gen. Asim Munir, will be how to respond to the latest threat from the Pakistani Taliban, which has ordered its fighters to resume attacks across the country.” | ||
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The noun rift means “A break in friendly relations between people, nations etc.” Close synonyms are “split”, “quarrel”, “cleavage” and “fracture”. | ||
The noun score, in this context, means “large numbers; a group of twenty items.” (This term has appeared on a past CACD 1st phase exam!) | ||
November 30, 2022 | ||
“Indian and American troops conducted a joint high-altitude training exercise in a freezing environment, close to a historically disputed border between India and China. The annual drills that took place around Auli, a hill station in the northern state of Uttarakhand, reflects the strengthening military relationship between New Delhi and Washington. By contrast, India and China fought a war along their Himalayan border in 1962. The latest dispute flared in June 2020, when at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops were killed in a brawl in the Ladakh region.” | ||
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The intransitive verb flare means “to erupt or intensify suddenly; to break out or intensify usually suddenly or violently.” | ||
The noun brawl denotes “a noisy, disorderly, and often violent quarrel or fight.” Close synonyms are “scuffle”, “wrangle”, and “affray”. | ||
December 1st, 2022 | ||
“After two years, a study from the London School of Economics found that Brexit has added almost £6 billion to United Kingdom food bills. The cost of food imported from the European Union rose because of extra red tape and, as low-income families spend a greater share of their income on food, the impact of Brexit on their purchases was disproportionately greater. The Brexit-induced price rise led to an overall cost of living increase for the poorest households of 1.1% – 52% more than the 0.7% rise felt in the top 10% of households in Britain.” | ||
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The noun red tape means “The collection or sequence of forms and procedures required to gain bureaucratic approval for something.” A close synonym is “bureaucracy”. | ||
The expression cost of living means “The average cost of the basic necessities of life, such as food, shelter, and clothing.” Pay attention when translating “custo de vida”. Do NOT translate it as “cost of life” or “living cost”. | ||
December 2, 2022 | ||
“French President Emmanuel Macron visited the United States this week and, after a meeting with the American President, Joe Biden, demonstrated united support for Ukraine in its effort to resist Russia’s invasion. Nevertheless, Macron and Biden offered divergent answers over their willingness to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin. On the one hand, Biden averred that he “has no immediate plans” to contact Putin. Macron, on the other hand, stated that once Ukraine sets conditions for a peace agreement, he’s willing to speak with Putin.” | ||
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The verb averred, in this context, means "to state with conviction or certainty". | ||
The expression willing, in this context, means "acting or ready to act gladly; eagerly compliant". |
