Monday, January 2

The most important foreign affairs events of the week

December 26, 2022

“China sent a record number of military aircraft to menace Taiwan on Sunday and into Monday morning, days after President Biden bolstered U.S. support for Taiwan. A military policy bill signed by Biden approved up to $10 billion over the next five years for Taiwan. By contrast, Beijing wants to maintain pressure on Taiwan even as some tensions between China and the U.S. are easing. Hostilities over Taiwan have been rising since Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, visited in August. China has denounced the U.S.’s support as an attempt to contain it, and to interfere in its domestic affairs.”

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The transitive verb bolster means “to support or reinforce; strengthen; to add to or uphold.” Close synonyms are “help”, “support”, “boost”, and “reinforce”.

The intransitive verb ease means “to lessen, as in discomfort, pressure, or stress.” Close synonyms are “appease”, “relax”, and “alleviate”.

December 27, 2022

“Thousands of Nicaraguans have fled their country in recent weeks to the United States in order to escape poverty and political repression. Nicaragua, a 6.5 million nation, is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere after Haiti. Fleeing from an increasingly authoritarian government, more than 180,000 Nicaraguans crossed into the United States this year through the end of November — about 60 times as many as those who entered during the same period two years earlier. In this context, for the first time, the number of arrests of undocumented migrants along the U.S. southern border exceeded two million in a single year.”

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The expressions fleeing from and crossed into were highlighted here to show you how important prepositions are, especially to form phrasal verbs in sentences referent to geography.

December 28, 2022

“The United States has launched a major effort to stifle Iran’s ability to manufacture and deliver drones for Russia to use in the war in Ukraine. The program also aims to give Ukraine the ability to shoot down any ‘kamikaze’ drones that Russia does manage to acquire, as well as to target their launch sites. Biden’s administration is also working closely with Israel on the issue and is building on Jerusalem’s experience thwarting Iranian drone attacks. However, stopping the acquisition of dual-use technology is proving challenging, it noted, as Iran has learned from years of efforts to sidestep sanctions on its nuclear program.”

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The transitive verb stifle means “to interrupt or cut off; to smother or suppress; to crush or stamp out.” Close synonyms are “restrain”, “suppress”, and “extinguish”.

The transitive verb thwart means “to prevent the occurrence, realization, attainment of; To oppose and defeat the efforts, plans, or ambitions of (someone).” Close synonyms are “impede”, “stymie”, and “balk”.

December 29, 2022

“Myanmar ousted civilian leader in 2021, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was sentenced to 33 years in prison, after being charged with multiple accusations of corruption. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, 77, a Nobel laureate, had already begun serving a 26-year prison sentence in connection with more than a dozen charges she has faced since being detained. Myanmar has been racked by violence since the coup. Protests erupted across the country as the junta’s opponents mounted a civil disobedience movement and national strike. The military responded with brutal force, shooting and killing protesters in the streets. Last week, the United Nations’ Security Council adopted a resolution condemning the junta’s human rights abuses in the aftermath of the coup and demanding the release of political prisoners.”

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The transitive verb oust means “to eject from a position or place; force out”. Close synonyms are “dispossess”, “throw out”, “dismiss”, “displace”, “discharge”, and “expel”.

The noun aftermath means “a consequence, especially of a disaster or misfortune; a period of time following a disastrous event.” Close synonyms are “outcome”, “results”, and “wake”.

December 30, 2022

“On Dec. 30, 1922, in a meeting at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater of Communist delegates from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the Caucasus region, the Soviet Union was born. The result was the largest country by landmass in modern history, spanning two continents. The Eurasian heartland is the axis of what the great geographer Halford Mackinder called the ‘World-Island.’ The Soviet Union lasted less than seven decades, ending with the strokes of politicians’ pens in December 1991. But a full century after the founding of the USSR, the shadow it cast has grown only deeper, especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.”

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The transitive verb span means “to extend across in space or time.” Close synonyms are “cover”, “traverse”, “comprise”, “encompass”, “range over”, “stretch across.”

The noun axis means “a central or principal structure about which something turns or is arranged.” Close synonyms are “center line”, “epicenter”, “heart”, “core”, and “nerve center”.