Pretext
in sentence
211 examples of Pretext in a sentence
And such potential bloodshed on Russia’s border may give Vladimir Putin the
pretext
he may desire to extend his rule beyond its constitutionally mandated end next March.
The end of President Alvaro Uribe’s re-election bid in Colombia will complicate life for the Caracas caudillo , removing a
pretext
for his own perpetuation in power.
They were swept out of power by hardliners who used the country’s jittery sense of security – accentuated by the presence of tens of thousands of American troops in neighboring countries – as a
pretext
to rig elections, stifle dissent, and reverse political and social freedoms.
But some observers fear that the incumbent DPP President Chen Shui-bian will seek a
pretext
to prevent a defeat for the pro-sovereignty camp.
What would be said if the British government had bombed Belfast, or if the Spanish government bombed Bilbao, on the
pretext
of quelling the IRA or the ETA?
Two other destabilizing developments emerged in the last quarter of the twentieth century: a strong incentive to use debt to prop up demand, and a shift toward financing public debt through private institutions at market prices, under the
pretext
of fighting inflation.
Trump’s election and escalating regional tensions have created the perfect
pretext
for Abe to push for his ultimate political goal: to abolish Article 9 – the pacifist clause in Japan’s post-war, US-imposed constitution, which limits the Japanese military to a “self-defense force,” and has generally kept Japanese defense spending at 1% of GDP.
The
pretext
was that taxes, welfare payments, and other government interventions impair incentives and distort competition, reducing economic growth for society as a whole.
But those who now call on the Security Council to issue rapid condemnations of Iran’s behavior should keep two things in mind: they are unlikely to have any effect, and the US has already used such resolutions as a
pretext
for launching military action on its own.
Belonging to a particular cultural group is merely a
pretext
for battles between the winners and losers of globalization.
Others perceive calls for growth as a
pretext
to weaken employment protection or accept greater income inequality.
The new Arab generation’s quest for dignity is rooted in a yearning for decent government and civil rights that was long denied under the
pretext
of conflict with the “Zionist crusaders.”
May they never forget that Israel’s fate is too serious of a matter to be used as a
pretext
for an impulsive, uncultured adventurer to demonstrate his authority or supposed deal-making talents.
And there is no scope for arguing that the allegations are based on fragmented reports or were simply fabricated; in Abyei, the facts are so clear that there can be no
pretext
for inaction.
Against that backdrop, Saudi Arabia earlier this month seems to have used Iran’s growing ambition as a
pretext
to summon Hariri to Riyadh as if he were a misbehaved pupil.
As the
pretext
for ignoring the repression of basic freedoms, that conflict has come to be described in powerful national and religious rhetoric throughout Syrian society.
Most important, it would undermine Iran’s efforts to make inroads into the Arab world under the
pretext
of defending Palestine and Holy Jerusalem.
The assassination of the heir of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at Sarajevo in July 1914 was not the cause of World War I, but its
pretext.
An existing border dispute was used as a
pretext
to launch a swift invasion (one that caught Nehru’s India by surprise), inflict a humiliating defeat, and then stage a seemingly magnanimous unilateral withdrawal designed to highlight India’s impotence.
The countries along Zheng’s route therefore recall his adventures not just as initiatives to promote trade and establish commercial links, but also as direct military intervention in their affairs, under the
pretext
of ushering in a harmonious world order under China’s emperor.
Today, the business community understands that the Prosecutor General's Office can find any
pretext
to go after any one of them.
Yet Erdogan has also been eager to use Europe’s requirements as a
pretext
to curb the army’s capacity to check his Islamic revolution.
The EU’s trade partners do not want to give ground, because they suspect that in the coming years, climate change will serve as a
pretext
for protectionist policies.
So Labour's ostensibly reasonable posture of technical skepticism, is really a pseudo-rationalist
pretext
for staying out of emu but without saying so out loud.
Europe’s founding fathers understood this when they hatched the idea of creating the European Coal and Steel Community: encouraging old enemies to pool some of the most powerful tools of war under the
pretext
of advancing their economic interests was a strategy of rare intelligence.
Russian officials intimate that the US is using the threat of a North Korean or Iranian attack on the US with nuclear-armed ballistic missiles as a
pretext
to erect defenses against Russia (and probably China).
Lyndon Johnson escalated US military intervention in Vietnam on the
pretext
of a North Vietnamese attack in the Gulf of Tonkin that never happened.
Many suspect that an engineered bloodbath that leads to army intervention, and the declaration of a national emergency, could serve as a
pretext
to postpone the October 2007 elections.
Similarly, my office defended the liberal weekly newspaper Novoe Vremya (New Times), which was being pressured by Moscow's city government on the
pretext
of a commercial dispute about a lease.
German defense spending remains inadequate, giving Trump a
pretext
to undermine NATO.
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