Word: discreet
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Despite fears that it could yet collapse, the deeply blackened structure of the hotel remains intact. Inside the lobby, where local politicians and journalists would ritually gather for discreet conversation, the furniture has been overturned. The floor is covered in scattered shards of glass, broken bits of the ceiling, torn carpet, leaves, and small pools of blood. The once blindingly luminous ceiling chandelier now dangles precariously over the reception desk. Only the rarely used grand piano appears undamaged. And there's water everywhere...
...failed to take note of what the two Anastasias (Ermakova and Davydova) were actually doing. I know immense physicality and endurance is involved in each routine, and that the smiles mask burning lungs. The Russians, for instance, are known to practice eight hours a day. But effort - and a discreet set of nose-clips - doesn't make it worthy of being an Olympic sport...
...Many analysts believe that a discreet intervention by the new army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, may have helped Musharraf make up his mind. Over recent months the army has been keen to rebuild its much-damaged domestic image and distance itself from politics. Any active effort on its part to save Musharraf would have only aroused popular disquiet at a time when the army is struggling to tame militancy in the country's wild North-West Frontier Province...
While the provincial votes have no legal implications, they have fortified the pressure on Musharraf to step down immediately and avoid a tortuous and potentially humiliating impeachment process. Over recent days, the atmosphere in Islamabad has grown feverish as discreet talks have gotten under way between various parties, lawyers, foreign diplomats and the army. A flurry of reports have appeared, claiming that Musharraf has agreed to resign but only if he can secure a "safe passage" - an agreement that would grant him immunity against prosecution...
Money is a lubricant that helps spin the wheels of government, but most politicians are discreet about how liberally the grease gets spread around. That's why it was so shocking when three of India's opposition-party lawmakers recently took the floor of India's Parliament, unzipped a black leather bag and, with TV cameras rolling, hauled out stacks of 1,000-rupee notes. The money, they claimed, represented bribes they had been offered by allies of the country's ruling Congress Party to withhold their ballots in a crucial July 22 vote of confidence. While allegations of "suitcase...