Monday, February 27
The most important foreign affairs events of the week
The most important foreign affairs events of the week | ||
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February 20, 2023 | ||
“Joe Biden traveled covertly to the besieged Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, a gesture that sent an important message to demonstrate American resolve to help defeat the Russian forces. Never in Mr. Biden’s lifetime had a president ventured into a war zone that was not under the control of American forces. The last president to do a similar move was Abraham Lincoln, who rode to the front lines outside Washington to watch battles in Northern Virginia during the Civil War. Biden announced a half-billion dollars in new assistance, saying the package would include more military equipment, such as artillery ammunition, more javelins and Howitzers. And he said new sanctions would be imposed on Moscow later this week.” | ||
Click here to read more about the issue. | ||
The adverb covertly means “in a secret way; not openly practiced, avowed, engaged in, accumulated, or shown.” Close synonyms are “clandestinely”, “secretly” and “hugger-mugger”. | ||
The transitive verb venture means “to expose to danger or risk.” | ||
February 21, 2023 | ||
“On Tuesday, Vladimir Putin said Russia will halt its participation in New Start, the last major remaining nuclear arms control treaty with the United States. The Russian president said during a speech characterized by grievances against the West that ‘they (the West) want to inflict a strategic defeat on us and claim our nuclear facilities.’ Experts say that this move is another step towards a military escalation that both sides are taking since the invasion started. The 2010 New Start treaty provides for limits on the deployed strategic nuclear arsenals of the world’s two largest nuclear powers, capping strategic nuclear assets at 1,550 deployed warheads and 700 deployed missiles and heavy bombers.” | ||
Click here to read more about the issue. | ||
The transitive verb halt means “to cause to stop.” Close synonyms are “stop”, “cease”, and “end”. | ||
The noun grievance means “a real or imaginary wrong causing resentment and regarded as grounds for complaint.” | ||
Capitalization Rule: | ||
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February 22, 2023 | ||
“A new report issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that, from 2016 to 2020, maternal mortality was on the rise across much of Europe and North America (17%), as well as in Latin America and the Caribbean (15%). A woman died every two minutes because of pregnancy or childbirth in 2020, evidence that progress in confronting maternal mortality has stalled. But that number does not account for the full scope of the coronavirus pandemic’s impacts, which research suggests have been significant. Sadly, about 70% of the estimated maternal deaths in 2020 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, the WHO report found.” | ||
Click here to read more about the issue. | ||
The preposition across means “from one side to the other.” | ||
The intransitive verb stall means “to come to a standstill.” Close synonyms are “halt”, “freeze”, and “pause”. | ||
February 23, 2023 | ||
“The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly voted to call for Russia to immediately and unconditionally withdraw from Ukraine, marking one year since Moscow’s invasion by calling for a ‘comprehensive, just and lasting peace.’ The resolution on Thursday night saw 141 countries in favor with seven against and 32 abstentions, including China. Ukraine’s allies tried to put a heavy emphasis on the willingness of Ukraine to seek dialogue in the resolution in order to pressure Russia to sit on the table of negotiations. However, they failed to improve on numbers seen in the last vote on the issue in October, immediately after Russia annexed republics in the east of Ukraine.” | ||
Click here to read more about the issue. | ||
The intransitive verb withdraw means “to move or draw back; to leave or return, as from a military position.” Close synonyms are “retreat”, “pull out”, “pull back”, and “fall back”. | ||
The noun willingness means “cheerful compliance; disposed or inclined; prepared.” Close synonyms are “inclination”, “will”, and “disposition”. | ||
February 24, 2023 | ||
“On the sad one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, told the Security Council on Friday that “we need peace”, calling for urgent action on multiple fronts. Since the invasion broke out one year ago, the UNSC has held more than 40 debates on the conflict. Nevertheless, the body has not been able to issue concrete measures to stop the conflict, especially because Russia and China have been using their veto powers to halt any resolutions on the matter. According to Guterres, ‘we must prevent further escalation, encourage every meaningful effort to end the bloodshed and, at long last, give peace a chance.’” | ||
Click here to read more about the issue. | ||
The noun anniversary means “the annually recurring date of a past event, a commemoration primarily of historical importance.” Note that it is not the same thing as birthday. | ||
The noun bloodshed means “destruction of life, as in war or murder; slaughter; the shedding of blood, especially the injury or killing of people.” Close synonyms would be "carnage", "slaughter", and "massacre". |
