Pretext
in sentence
211 examples of Pretext in a sentence
The result was Al Qaeda, whose actions ultimately prompted President George W. Bush’s invasion of Afghanistan and provided a
pretext
for invading Iraq.
In the face of the brutality of Saddam Hussein, Muammar el-Qaddafi, and Assad, some human-rights advocates made common cause with the US security establishment, while China, Russia, and others have argued that R2P has become a
pretext
for US-led regime change.
When al-Qaeda struck the US on September 11, 2001, the attack was used as a
pretext
by the security establishment to launch its long-desired war to topple Saddam.
Even literary debates may become the
pretext
for which violent appeals to a bigoted unity and, of course, for excluding those carrying the virus of critical thinking.
Hatton confronts a popular argument against admitting refugees: that asylum-seekers are not really desperate, but are just using a crisis as a
pretext
for admission to a richer country.
But the reality is that security risks – which may well be genuine – are no excuse for the kind of blanket suspicion that governments are using as a
pretext
for silencing or prohibiting independent organizations.
Al Qaeda affiliates will target US regional interests in the hope that the blame falls on Iran and its militant proxies – providing a
pretext
for US military confrontation.
The low turnout and weakening of mainstream parties gives the European Council – national leaders of the EU’s member states – a
pretext
to continue cutting deals in smoke-free rooms.
Hamas understands that accommodation with the Jewish state – and attending to the tedious business of providing decent governance in Gaza, rather than accumulating a formidable arsenal with help from Iran and Sudan (for which “Palestine” is just a pretext) – would mean the end of the organization as we know it.
China and Russia have stopped supporting it after the Western intervention in Libya in 2011, having come to view R2P as a
pretext
for regime change.
Consider the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, which was launched on the
pretext
that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction.
“For years,” Karzai said in a statement issued after the strike, “our people are being killed and their houses are being destroyed under the
pretext
of the war on terror.”
The war on terror is real enough, and not just a pretext, but so are the civilian casualties that have been occurring for years.
Snowden’s presence in Russia, even in the airport’s international transit zone, has given the US a
pretext
to declare that he is not a whistleblower, but a traitor.
There are legitimate concerns that Israel might use the withdrawal of US troops as a
pretext
to intensify its attacks on Iran and Hezbollah in Syria – a decision that could escalate into all-out regional conflict, one that draws in the US, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia, Iran’s main rival for regional hegemony.
If so, Israel might use it as a
pretext
to crush the Palestinians and their newly built institutions.
But some in China fear that the incumbent president, Chen Shui-bian of the DPP, is seeking a
pretext
to prevent a defeat for the pro-sovereignty camp.
Europeans should understand the inherent dangers in creating a land corridor through another country, given the Nazis’ use of the Danzig Corridor as a
pretext
to invade Poland in 1939.
In 1903, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, produced by Imperial Russia’s secret police, “exposed” a diabolical Jewish plot to achieve world domination by promoting liberalism – and became a
pretext
for anti-Semitism in Europe.
The Israeli government may have seized on the outrageous murders as a
pretext
for provoking Hamas into a response that would allow Israel, in turn, to invade and destroy the tunnels Hamas has dug from Gaza into Israel.
The status quo is excused by Arab regimes in the name of cultural specificity – the same
pretext
used by Western governments to justify their “value-free” policies toward these regimes.
They and their successors used Lockerbie as a
pretext
to press for the adoption of crippling UN sanctions.
Target governments use such activities as a
pretext
to discriminate against those groups.
Moreover, according to the new constitution that was supposedly “approved” by the “referendum,” Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has never been prosecuted and still remains under house arrest, is barred from standing in the 2010 general elections under the
pretext
that her deceased husband was British.
To those in the other Arab countries of the Middle East and elsewhere who oppose the war, the impact is to make human rights seem a justification, or a pretext, for a projection of American power.
The Bush administration knew what it was doing when it declared war on terror and used that
pretext
for invading Iraq.
Many now believe that Bashir will seek to prevent the referendum from taking place, or to use its result as a
pretext
to return to war with the South – with devastating consequences across the Horn of Africa.
And Russia’s refusal to hand over Snowden, under the
pretext
of strict adherence to the law, has allowed Putin to poke Obama in the eye once again – this time while posing as a defender of legality and human rights.
He has long insisted on the creation of a no-fly “buffer” zone on the Syrian side of the border, under the
pretext
that it would help to address the humanitarian crisis that the civil war has engendered.
In the meantime, the absence of institutional reform should not be allowed to serve as a
pretext
for inaction.
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