Vitalyation n.— «Churkin’s angry reactions to diplomatic affronts have become so common that some U.N. diplomats have invented a word to describe it: Vitalyation (rhymes with “retaliation”). But the former Soviet official has...
gas and go n.— «President Bush spent 90 minutes with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Moscow airport during what is commonly called a “gas and go.” The Presidents made no statements, but their body language was warm...
GUAM n.— «Georgia’s parliament Speaker Nino Burdzhanadze called on lawmakers from Azerbaijan, Moldova and Ukraine—a grouping known by its acronym GUAM—to agree on a joint statement on current tensions between Moscow and Tbilisi which...
tartan noir n.— «Scottish detective fiction, or Tartan Noir as it’s called, with its brooding sensibility, brutal humor and fixation on the nature of guilt and punishment, has more in common with the Russian novel than it does with...
flutz n.— «Lipinski made a slight error on the front portion of the combination, for an automatic .2 point deduction. She did what, in the business, is referred to a “flutz.”» —“Unlocking the combination: American and...
balagan n.— «Balagan is a slangy Hebrew word, derived from Russian, used by the Israel Defense Forces to describe what is happening with Sharon’s Gaza disengagement strategy: “chaos; a screw up!”» —“Gaza Disengagement:...