THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary- October 15, 2016- Topic 2
A big foreign policy challenge awaiting
the next U.S. President is the frosty relationship
with an angry, resurgent Russia. Talk
about a post-Cold War partnership between the world’s two greatest military
powers is now a thing of the past. It looks like a throwback to the Cold War
days with Russia and the U.S. fighting a proxy war in Ukraine, leading two competing military operations in Syria and raising allegations and counter-allegations on a
host of issues, ranging from human rights violations and breaking international
norms to interfering in each other’s domestic politics. Tensions came to a head
this month when the U.S. pulled out of talks with Russia over the Syria
conflict. This was immediately after President Vladimir Putin abandoned a key
nuclear disarmament treaty with Washington, demanding the removal of sanctions
on Moscow. If the belligerence and intransigence both countries display are any
indication, international politics is set to get a lot more murky. There could
be several triggers for this escalation, but the real problem is that the Cold
War-era mistrust between Washington and Moscow was never really buried. Friction
has been increasingly evident on the watch of President Putin, as he pursues an
aggressive foreign policy framed around what he regards as Russian interests.
This happened in Georgia in 2008, Ukraine in 2014 and Syria the year after. In
turn, the Obama administration’s coercive diplomacy in dealing with Russia’s
aggression has widened the rift. The suspension
of Russia from the G8 moved Moscow
farther away from the West, while sanctions negated the goodwill built, since
the 1990s, between Moscow and the West.
To be sure, Russia is a shadow of what
the Soviet Union was at its peak. Its economy is struggling in the wake of the
slump in oil prices. Its currency is in a free fall. Its geopolitical influence
is largely limited to the Central Asia and Caucasus. And its foreign policy
doesn’t have any high moral ground—the interference in Ukraine was a direct
threat to the modern international system, while in Syria it’s defending a
brutal regime that’s accused of killing its own citizens. But in an international
system largely dominated by the U.S., Russia, still an extremely consequential
military power, remains the key player whose cooperation is necessary to
resolve several of today’s crises. Treating it as a “rogue” nation or trying to
isolate and weaken it through sanctions and other means could only be
counterproductive. The Iran nuclear deal shows that even the most complex international issues
could be resolved if Russia and the U.S. work together with creative diplomacy.
Ideally, that should set the model for U.S.-Russia partnership.
Vocabulary
Frosty: cold and unfriendly in manner.
Example: Sam gave her a frosty look
Synonyms: cold, frigid, icy, glacial, unfriendly, inhospitable, unwelcoming
Resurgent: increasing or reviving after a period of little activity, popularity, or
occurrence.
Example: Resurgent nationalism
Throwback: a reversion to an earlier ancestral characteristic.
Example: The eyes could be an ancestral throwback
Conflict: a serious disagreement or argument, typically a protracted one.
Example: The eternal conflict between the sexes
Synonyms: dispute, quarrel, squabble, disagreement, dissension, clash
Belligerence: hostile and aggressive.
Example: A bull-necked, belligerent old man
Synonyms: hostile, aggressive, threatening, antagonistic, warlike, warmongering
Aggressive: ready or likely to attack or confront; characterized by or resulting from
aggression.
Example: He's very uncooperative and aggressive
Synonyms: hostile, belligerent, bellicose, antagonistic, truculent
Coercive: relating to or using force or threats.
Example: Coercive measures
Farther: more distant in space than another item of the same kind.
Example: The farther side of the mountain
Regime: a system or planned way of doing things, especially one imposed from above.
Example: Detention centers with a very tough physical regime
Synonyms: system, arrangement, order, pattern, method, procedure
Rogue: a dishonest or unprincipled man.
Example: You are a rogue and an embezzler
Synonyms: scoundrel, villain, miscreant, reprobate, rascal, good-for-nothing