Monday, January 9

The most important foreign affairs events of the week

January 2, 2023

“The euro entered into circulation in Croatia on January 1st, bringing the number of European Union (EU) Member States using the single European currency to 20. The euro area’s central banking system comprises the European Central Bank (ECB) and the national central banks of those countries whose currency is the euro. Nevertheless, Croatians appear to be split on the issue: 55% of the country's citizens are in favor of introducing the euro, according to a European Commission survey. Moreover, Croatia joins the Schengen area, an area comprising 27 European countries that have officially abolished all passports and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. From now on, internal borders can be crossed freely, without controls.”

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The transitive verb comprise means “to be composed of or contain; to constitute the whole of; consist of.” Not to be confused with compose, which means “create or put together; constitute; to calm one’s mind or body.”

The noun survey means “a gathering of a sample of data or opinions considered to be representative of a whole.” Close synonyms are “poll”, “sampling”, and “research”.

January 3, 2023

“Even though price rises have been slowing back to single digits in Germany, the country ended 2022 with an overall inflation rate of 8.7 percent, the highest annual rate since the country’s reunification after the end of the Cold War in 1990. The rate of inflation in the country has been slowing since November, but economists expect it will take another year, at least, to reach the European Central Bank’s target of 2 percent. Energy costs, especially due to the war in Ukraine, have been the main responsible for this surge in overall prices. However, economists cautioned that the nature of the slowdown — in large part driven by the government’s gas price subsidies — meant the ECB remained likely to raise rates.”

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The adjective overall means “including everything; comprehensive; regarded as a whole; general.” 

The intransitive verb surge means “to increase suddenly; to make a dramatic increase in something.” Close synonyms are “boost”, “increase”, and “jump”.

January 4, 2023

“Benjamin Netanyahu’s justice minister has unveiled the new government’s long-promised overhaul of the judicial system that aims to weaken the supreme court. Critics say the plan will undermine Israel’s democracy by giving absolute power to the most rightwing coalition in the country’s history. The series of changes aimed at curbing the powers of the judiciary, including allowing lawmakers to pass laws that the high court has struck down and in effect deemed unconstitutional.”

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The transitive verb overhaul means “to revise extensively; to examine thoroughly and revise or refurbish.” 

The transitive verb curb means “to check, restrain, or control; to control with or as if with a curb; restrain.” Close synonyms are “repress”, “constrain”, and “impede”.

January 5, 2023

“On Thursday, the Kremlin announced a 36-hour cease-fire in Ukraine to mark the Eastern Orthodox Christmas, which would be the broadest truce by far since Russia invaded in February. However, Ukrainian leaders are skeptical about the decision, considering the idea as cynical posturing by a ruthless and untrustworthy enemy. Russia has previously rejected — and, according to Ukraine, has repeatedly violated — limited, local cease-fires intended to allow humanitarian evacuations and aid deliveries in besieged places such as Mariupol. The current announcement comes as Russian forces, after severe setbacks, are scrambling to build defenses, ferry new conscripts to the front and reconstitute shattered units.” 

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The adjective broad means “having relatively great breadth or width; of vast extent; spacious.” When you are talking about objects, you usually say that they are wide rather than broad, wich is usually used to describe abstract terms.

The adjective ruthless means “having no compassion or pity; merciless.” Close synonyms are “unmerciful”, “pitiless”, and “unpitying”.

January 6, 2023

“In a detailed statement, more than two dozen UN-appointed independent human rights experts called out the heads of many of the world’s biggest social media platforms, saying that the companies they lead ‘must urgently address posts and activities that advocate hatred, and constitute incitement to discrimination, in line with international standards for freedom of expression.’ The experts said although some companies claimed not to allow hate speech, there was a clear gap between stated policies, and enforcement. According to the statement, ‘this is particularly salient in the approval of inflammatory ads, electoral disinformation on Facebook, and content that talks of conspiracy theories.’”

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The phrasal verb call out means “to order or request to assemble or arrive somewhere; summon.”

In this context, the transitive verb address means “to begin to deal with something (a problem).”