THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary-December 16, 2016- Topic 2
In nominating Rex Tillerson, Chief
Executive of the oil and gas conglomerate ExxonMobil, to the post of Secretary
of State, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has provided another glimpse into
his world view and decision-making process. Similar to Mr. Trump, Mr. Tillerson has no formal experience in political
office, yet brings impressive heft in terms of deal-making across 52 countries
over six continents. On his watch, the stock market value of ExxonMobil, the
U.S.’s largest oil company, soared to over $360 billion. Yet the vast global
reach of Mr. Tillerson’s work and the sheer complexities involved in drilling
for oil, especially the sometimes messy geopolitics at play, have meant he has
often been at odds with the agenda of the U.S. State Department. In Nigeria,
for example, his company faced flak for lack of transparency in dealings with
the government. Nowhere is the potential divergence from the hallowed traditions
of Foggy Bottom’s diplomatic norms more visible than in Mr. Tillerson’s
decade-plus engagement with Russia to secure oil drilling rights. Under him,
ExxonMobil since 2006 signed a plethora of drilling agreements including
through partnerships with the Russian oil behemoth Rosneft. Yet, as Mr.
Tillerson’s star rose in the eyes of the Kremlin, U.S. President Barack Obama’s
fell, especially since early 2014 when he authorised sanctions against certain
Russian individuals and entities for violating the territorial integrity of
Ukraine.
Thus, reactions to Mr. Tillerson’s
nomination have been divided between relief, among those who would welcome the
likely thaw in Washington-Moscow diplomatic ties, and alarm, of critics who
fear that as in Mr. Trump’s case, Mr. Tillerson may find it difficult to
disentangle his personal and official interests. In his confirmation hearing in
the Senate he will be grilled, in all likelihood by John McCain and his peers,
on his views on whether Russian hackers had interfered in the presidential
election, as the U.S. intelligence community suggests they did, and whether
these hackers could still launch cyberattacks on U.S. targets. His answers will
provide clues about how he might carry out his duties as America’s top
diplomat. They will also supply clarity on his apparent belief, contra-Trump,
that human activity does cause climate change, necessitating mitigation and
adaptation efforts. To India, the nomination of Mr. Tillerson, if successful,
may smooth military cooperation with Moscow as Obama-era hostility towards
Russia softens. ExxonMobil also has extensive oil business assets on Indian
soil, so New Delhi may have reason to be sanguine about bilateral détente,
especially in trade and investment terms.
Vocabulary
Conglomerate: gather together into a compact
mass.
Example: Atoms that conglomerate at the center
Synonyms: coalesce, unite, join, combine, merge, fuse, consolidate, amalgamate
Glimpse: a momentary or partial view.
Example: She caught a glimpse of the ocean
Synonyms: brief look, quick look, glance, peek, peep, sight
Heft: lift or carry something heavy.
Example: Donald hefted another pair of sandbags from the stack
Synonyms: lift, lift up, raise, raise up, heave, hoist, haul, carry, lug
Messy: untidy or dirty.
Example: His messy hair
Synonyms: dirty, filthy, grubby, soiled, grimy, mucky, muddy, slimy
Flak: antiaircraft fire.
Example: Approximately 50 enemy aircraft were in the vicinity and the entire area
was full of friendly flak .
Synonyms: antiaircraft fire, shelling, gunfire, bombardment, barrage
Hallow: honor as holy.
Example: The Ganges is hallowed as a sacred, cleansing river
Plethora: a large or excessive amount of something.
Example: A plethora of committees and subcommittees
Synonyms: excess, overabundance, superabundance, surplus, glut,
Behemoth: a huge or monstrous creature.
Example: The mountains themselves appeared the spiny backbones or monstrous
prehistoric behemoths
Disentangle: free something or someone from
an entanglement; extricate.
Example: “I must go,” she said, disentangling her fingers from Gabriel's
Synonyms: extricate, extract, free, remove, disengage, untwine, release, loosen
Sanguine: optimistic or positive, especially in an apparently bad
or difficult situation.
Example: He is sanguine about prospects for the global economy
Synonyms: optimistic, bullish, hopeful, buoyant, positive, confident, cheerful
Extensive: covering or affecting a large area.
Example: An extensive garden
Synonyms: large, large-scale, sizable, substantial, considerable, ample