Final Word from Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Miloš Zeman has a knack for visiting hot spots just as the world's attention is turning toward them. It started with his "I am a Jew" speech at AIPAC in Washington in early March, just as Benjamin Netanyahu was campaigning there for reelection and was trying to kill Obama's Iran deal. Then Zeman went to Moscow for Victory Day and a meeting with Vladimir Putin, mere days before John Kerry showed up in Sochi for his own friendly tête-à-tête with the "pariah." Earlier this month Zeman was the only Western leader to lay eyes on China's "carrier-killer" in Beijing, and then he met there with Putin, shortly before the Russian leader started ramping up military deliveries to Syria. Yesterday Zeman signed a strategic partnership with Azerbaijani Pres. Ilham Aliyev, just as Europe was condemning the country for "repressing civil society." The world should start bracing now for Zeman's visit to the U.N. later this month. [Czech Republic Israel Barack Azerbaijan]
Glossary of difficult words
impeccable - flawless; perfect;
knack - an acquired skill at performing a task; a gift or talent for something;
hot spot - a place of significant activity or danger;
tête-à-tête - a private conversation between two people;
pariah - an outcast; an undesirable person;
to ramp up - to increase or cause to increase in amount;
to repress - to restrain or prevent;
to brace for something - to prepare (someone or oneself) for something difficult or unpleasant.