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| Words in the News
Wednesday 15 May 2002
Vocabulary from the news. Listen to and read the report then find explanations of difficult words below.
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NATO - Russia Council
Summary: NATO and Russia have agreed to establish a new joint decision-making body, the NATO-Russia Council, to discuss a range of key defence and security issues. This report from Jonathan Marcus.
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| | The News | |
| | | This is a new beginning for NATO and Russia. Previous efforts at establishing a framework for joint action foundered on the rocks of lingering suspicion and genuine differences over issues like the crisis in the Balkans. But the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11th have put Russia and the NATO governments on converging courses.
The aim now is to capitalise on this new, more positive mood. The new NATO-Russia Council will meet every month, with four ministerial level meetings each year. It has a detailed work programme covering areas like the struggle against terrorism, halting weapons' proliferation, theatre missile defence and so on. Clearly, NATO itself will continue to discuss many of these issues on its own. The novelty of the new council is that it's intended to do practical things. An initial study will look at the terrorist threat to peace-keeping forces in the Balkans, where Russian troops serve alongside many other NATO and non-NATO countries.
By keeping the new council focused on practical matters the hope is that it can take real decisions on real issues. Its success now depends on how much political capital is invested in the new body - one veteran NATO official noting that if the new council achieves little it could actually sour ties between the Alliance and Moscow.
Jonathan Marcus, BBC, Reykjavik
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| | The Words
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| | | framework
a set of rules, ideas or beliefs you use to make sense of facts or events
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| | | foundered
if something founders, it fails
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| | | converging
here, when ideas or views converge, they stop being different and gradually start being similar to one another
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| | | capitalise on
if you capitalise on a situation you use it to gain some advantage
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| | | ministerial level meetings
meetings involving senior politicians, such as ministers
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| | | work programme
a series of actions or events that are planned to be done
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| | | theatre
in a war, a theatre is an area in which fighting takes place
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| | | peace-keeping forces
soldiers who try to prevent violence in a country where there is war or violence
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| | | political capital
effort by politicians
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| | | sour
if something sours a relationship, it makes it less friendly or hopeful
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