PARAGRAPH, WORDS AND MEANING

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PARAGRAPH, WORDS AND MEANING

PARAGRAPH OF THE DAY –

Rex Tillerson sacking: Rexit and beyond –

Even by his standards for unexpected diktats, U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to fire his Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, and replace him with CIA Director Mike Pompeo, came out of the blue. Mr. Tillerson, who was the CEO of ExxonMobil Corporation before taking up the role, did not agree with Mr. Trump on fundamental policy matters, the President said. This is widely seen as an allusion to Mr. Tillerson’s preference, contra-Trump, for diplomacy as a means of defusing the North Korean crisis. Also implied was a widening chasm between the two men on the merits of the Iran nuclear deal. With Mr. Tillerson’s departure, the number of senior officials exiting the Trump administration after a little more than a year has reached at least 24. Less than a week before the long-rumoured “Rexit”, White House Chief Economic Adviser Gary Cohn, formerly a Wall Street banker, quit his post over his opposition to Mr. Trump’s proposal to levy hefty steel and aluminium tariffs. And, less than a week before Mr. Cohn, White House Communications Director Hope Hicks resigned after admitting to a Congressional panel investigating Russian influence on the 2016 election that she had occasionally told “white lies” on Mr. Trump’s behalf. Rumours now swirl that National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster may also soon be ousted. The question at this point is: does the existing coterie of senior White House officials enjoy the confidence of their President to a sufficient magnitude as to ensure that policies can be executed in a meaningful way? In one sense, there does not appear to be cause for alarm over the incessant departures from the White House. It is quite possible that Mr. Trump has used his first year in office to consolidate his vision and attract the right talent to realise his governance paradigm, essentially rooted in a nationalistic, or “America First”, world view. Take the case of Mr. Pompeo: he is far more aligned with Mr. Trump’s hawkish approach towards the Kim Jong-un regime than Mr. Tillerson was. There is a case to be made that Mr. Trump’s hardline stance is what is ultimately bringing the North Koreans to the negotiating table. Mr. Tillerson, insistent on talks, was likely to have been an impediment to this strategy. The deeper message is that the liberal order of the Obama years is gone. Propriety, protocol and punditry no longer hold sway — Mr. Trump had no quarrel with Mr. Tillerson over the Secretary leaving numerous senior State Department posts vacant, but only cared about the top diplomat’s concurrence with his strategy. The President will likely apply this principle — and find himself the right people — in other policy areas as well, such as trade and immigration. Nations that engage with America may glean valuable lessons from this churn.

 

WORDS AND MEANING –

1) Diktats

Meaning: An order or decree imposed by someone in power without popular consent.

Example: “a diktat from the Bundestag”

2) Fire

Meaning: Dismiss (an employee) from a job.

Example: “I had to fire men who’ve been with me for years”

Synonyms: Dismiss, Discharge

3) Out of the blue

Meaning: Without warning; unexpectedly.

Example: “she phoned me out of the blue”

4) Widening

Meaning: Make or become wider.

Example: “we should widen the scope of our investigation”

Synonyms: Broaden, Stretch

Antonyms: Narrow, Restrict

5) Chasm

Meaning: A profound difference between people, viewpoints, feelings, etc.

Example: “the chasm between rich and poor”

Synonyms: Breach, Gulf

6) Hefty

Meaning: Large and heavy.

Example: “a hefty young chap”

Synonyms: Heavy, Sturdy

Antonyms: Slight, Gaunt

7) White lies

Meaning: A harmless or trivial lie, especially one told to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.

Example: “when I was young, I told little white lies”

8) Swirl

Meaning: A quantity of something moving in a twisting or spiralling pattern.

Example: “swirls of dust swept across the floor”

9) Ousted

Meaning: Drive out or expel (someone) from a position or place.

Example: “the reformists were ousted from power”

Synonyms: Expel, Remove

10) Coterie

Meaning: A small group of people with shared interests or tastes, especially one that is exclusive of other people.

Example: “a coterie of friends and advisers”

Synonyms: Clique, Crowd

11) Incessant

Meaning: (of something regarded as unpleasant) continuing without pause or interruption.

Example: “the incessant beat of the music”

Synonyms: Constant, Continual

Antonyms: Intermittent, Occasional

12) Paradigm

Meaning: A typical example or pattern of something; a pattern or model.

Example: “society’s paradigm of the ‘ideal woman’”

13) Rooted

Meaning: Establish deeply and firmly.

Example: “vegetarianism is rooted in Indian culture”

Synonyms: Fixed, Ineradicable

14) Hawkish

Meaning: Advocating an aggressive or warlike policy, especially in foreign affairs.

Example: “the administration’s hawkish stance”

15) Stance

Meaning: The attitude of a person or organization towards something; a standpoint.

Example: “the party is changing its stance on Europe”

Synonyms: Attitude, Stand

16) The negotiating table

Meaning: A situation or place in which people formally discuss something in order to reach an agreement.

Example: We were completely unsuccessful at the negotiating table.

17) Impediment

Meaning: A hindrance or obstruction in doing something.

Example: “a serious impediment to scientific progress”

Synonyms: Hindrance, Obstruction

Antonyms: Benefit

18) Concurrence

Meaning: The fact of two or more events or circumstances happening or existing at the same time.

Example: “the incidental concurrence of two separate tumours”

19) Glean

Meaning: Obtain (information) from various sources, often with difficulty.

Example: “the information is gleaned from press cuttings”

Synonyms: Obtain, Get

20) Churn

Meaning: To move something.

Example: The Sea was churned up by heavy winds.