A rogue nation – The Hindu Mar 28, 2018

Russia made headlines for all the wrong reasons this week, when a clutch of countries led by the U.S. expelled more than 100 of its diplomats and intelligence officers over suspicion that the Kremlin was For further reading, visit “The Hindu”.

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Courtesy: The Hindu

Word List-2 (To improve Vocabulary)

1. rogue (noun) – unprincipled, dishonest, devil/villian.
2. negotiating table (noun) – a place/situation in which people having formal discussions in order to reach an agreement.
3. a clutch of (noun) – group, set, collection.
4. suspicion (noun) – doubt/qualm, speculation, scepticism.
5. nerve agent (noun) – Nerve agents are a class of chemicals called organophosphates – meaning they contain phosphorous – that are extremely poisonous. They attack the nervous system of the human body, which passes messages from the brain to other parts of the body, telling it what to do.
6. defector (noun) – dissenter, rebel, traitor; a person who leaves his/her country to join/support an opposing country.
7. expulsion (noun) – banishment, exile, deportation, eviction. 
8. concerted (adjective) – coordinated/jointly planned, active, strong/intense.
9. purge (noun) – removal, eradication, elimination.
10. sanctions (noun) – action taken, or an order given to force a country to obey international laws by limiting or stopping trade with that country, by not allowing economic aid for that country, etc (Courtesy: VOA Learning English).
11. covert (adjective) – secret, furtive, hidden/concealed.
12. propaganda (noun) – information, promotion, advertising/publicity.
13. militant (noun) – extremist, radical, fanatic.
14. scarcely (adverb) – hardly, barely; rarely.
15. apparently (adverb) – seemingly, evidently, supposedly.
16. deem (verb) – regard as, consider; think/suppose.
17. hawk (noun) – an aggressive or warlike (external affairs) policy.
18. collude (verb) – collaborate, cooperate secretly; conspire.
19. naive (adjective) – denoting (someone’s) lack of experience/knowledge; inexperienced.
20. undermine (verb) – weaken, compromise, diminish/reduce.
21. manoeuvres (noun) – stratagem, tactic, cunning scheme.
22. exacerbate (verb) – aggravate, make worse, worsen/compound.
23. contrarily (adverb) – in a conflicting manner.
24. imperative (adjective) – vitally important, crucial, critical.
25. corollary (noun) – consequence, result, outcome.
26. eschew (verb) – give up, forge/reject, relinquish/renounce.
27. subversion (noun) – the act of undermining, worsening, reducing (power & authority gradually).

Note:   

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2. Definitions (elementary level) & Synonyms provided for the words above are my personal work and not that of Oxford University Press. Tentative definitions/meanings are provided for study purpose only and they may vary in different context. Use it with the corresponding article published on the source (website) via the link provided. 

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