Is that a rhetorical question?

And this is not a rhetorical question.

Is that a rhetorical question, I hope?

Our support for an effective reform is not a rhetorical stand.

They are readily understandable by citizens and elected officials and serve as a powerful rhetorical symbol.

As in previous years, some developed countries were turning consideration of human rights and of the reports of special rapporteurs and special representatives into a totally subjective rhetorical exercise.

These rhetorical devices must not overshadow careful analysis of the various options. There has been surprisingly little comparative analysis of the effects of quantitative easing (QE) in Japan, the US, and Britain.

This is not a matter only for the world s largest economies. Candidates to lead their countries should not be allowed to get away with speaking in generalities or engaging in vague rhetorical flourishes.

With his campaign apparently dead in the water, McCain reached out all right to the right wing fundamentalists in his own party. Governor Sarah Palin strode onto the national stage, rhetorical guns blazing.

However, the only way to guarantee that nuclear weapons would never be used was for the world to be free of them it was time to move beyond rhetorical flourish and political posturing.

All of these descriptions may be accurate, but each carries different rhetorical weight and legal implications. The time has come for governments and international organizations to call the attack on MH17 a probable war crime.

Instead, they are resorting to diversionary tactics by engaging in overblown rhetorical battles about minor controversies. But they cannot ignore their problems forever, and the consequences of delaying the reforms that France needs could be catastrophic.

Iraq s central government is aware of the risks, as well, and is likely to exercise maximum restraint. A limited Turkish strike into northern Iraq would probably elicit little reaction beyond public condemnation and rhetorical assertions of Iraqi sovereignty.

34. If there are economic, social and cultural rights for the benefit and at the disposal of the individual, they must not be merely rhetorical but must take on a substance that necessarily entails duties, but for whom?

The answer lies in Ayn Rand s rhetorical invocation of despair in her 1957 epic Atlas Shrugged Who is John Galt? Simply put, when the state seizes the incentives and drivers of capital investment, owners of capital go on strike.

Proponents of the Assisted Reproductive Technologies Regulation Bill 2010, now before the Indian Parliament, employ a similar rhetorical twist. They say that the bill actually protects surrogate mothers for example, by limiting the number of pregnancies they can undergo.

Unfortunately, judging by the initiatives already on the Brisbane agenda, the summit looks set to take a business as usual approach. If the G 20 fails to put policy meat on its rhetorical bones, it will risk looking weak and irrelevant.

Organizational skills the ability to attract and inspire an effective inner circle of followers can compensate for rhetorical deficiencies, just as effective public rhetoric can partly compensate for low organizational skills. Hitler was skillful at communicating with both distant and inner circle audiences.

What European leaders may want most from the Fund are easy loans and strong rhetorical support. But what Europe really needs is the kind of honest assessment and tough love that the Fund has traditionally offered to its other, less politically influential, clients.

The discussions under such a mechanism should not be rhetorical but pragmatic, an effort to map out further possible multilateral negotiations on nuclear disarmament while taking full account of the progress made in the bilateral or plurilateral negotiations between the nuclear Powers.

Such a practical, effective EU may not reach the lofty rhetorical aspirations beloved by politicians, but it will not be moribund. On the contrary, such a Europe has a lot to gain for itself as well as to contribute to the rest of the world.

Emerging political actors feel compelled to develop more detailed economic programs and to address their populations growing material grievances. For example, whereas the Islamists had essentially focused on political themes, highlighting participation, inclusiveness, and democratic reforms, the recent election campaigns witnessed a rhetorical shift to economic aspirations.

Barack Obama, at least when he began his campaign, had all the charisma of the holy roller, turning on the crowds with the rhetorical spark of a great evangelist. That is why he barged his way past Hillary Clinton, the consummate operator of the party machine.

During the 2008 presidential election campaign, Obama proved to be a talented communicator. Not only was his rhetorical style effective, but after inflammatory comments by his pastor threatened to derail his campaign, he produced one of the best speeches on race in America since the days of King.

We need a Europe that is more concrete, less rhetorical, and better suited to the current global economy. We need to focus not only on the European Union s specific policies, but also on how to change its politics a change that must place economic growth at the top of the agenda.

Leaders, more often than not, are hostage to the socio political environment that produces them, rather than its shapers. Sadat gained a privileged place in history and achieved immortality the moment he fled from the comfortable prison of inertia, and from the pantomime solidarity and hollow rhetorical cohesion of Arab summits.

So far, US and East Asian leaders have done little beyond offering rhetorical support for the creation of multilateral security institutions. With the exception of the almost defunct six party talks aimed at eliminating the nuclear threat posed by North Korea, Asia s powers refuse to be constrained by international rules or norms.

The word decisive holds important implications for key resources including fuels, financial capital, and, of course, the currency that historically have been subject to state administered pricing. Rhetorical flourishes have always been an important signaling mechanism for major policy changes think of Deng Xiaoping s reforms and opening up of the late 1970 s.

Green Papers, as they are called in Europe, or White Papers, as they are known in America and Britain, are often mere rhetorical essays government backed studies that state broad principles unlikely ever to be applied in practice. The recent Green Paper released by the European Commission on international migration is no exception.

CAMBRIDGE The crisis in Greece and the debt problems in Spain and Portugal have exposed the euro s inherent flaws. No amount of financial guarantees much less rhetorical reassurance from the European Union can paper them over. After 11 years of smooth sailing since the euro s creation, the arrangement s fundamental problems have become glaringly obvious.

This year also marks a much less noted anniversary, an occasion on which de Gaulle showed how his rare combination of determination, political skill, and rhetorical ability could be brought to bear to face down determined opposition. It was a central moment in the establishment of the Fifth Republic, which continues to this day.

Contending in a 2009 interview that the language we use matters, he rebranded the war on terror as a struggle and a strategic challenge. But the rhetorical shift did not translate into a change in strategy, with the Obama administration moving beyond security concerns to use its anti terrorism activities to advance America s broader geopolitical interests.

Recent Peruvian administrations have all governed from the center, even if they did so under widely differing rhetorical styles and party labels. And in Colombia, President Juan Manuel Santos s administration has a history on the center right, but has raised taxes and implemented a reform agenda that some of its ministers like to call social democratic.

NEW DELHI President Barack Obama s first foreign trip since winning a second term highlights Asia s new centrality to America s economy and security. But Obama s Asian tour also underscores the main question about American policy in the region Will the United States pivot to Asia acquire concrete strategic content, or will it remain largely a rhetorical repackaging of old policies?

Given Egypt s mass death sentences, extrajudicial violence, and the dominance of hawks in the security and the military establishments, together with the rhetorical, behavioral, and organizational changes within the Muslim Brotherhood, the chances of reconciliation are fading by the day. In an environment in which compromise is regarded as a dirty word, Egypt s future appears to be far from bright.

Calling the offense by its legal name acknowledges this, thereby preempting a rhetorical battle to frame the attack as terror, tragedy, or conspiracy. Even the Russians may be willing to accept this framing, because it avoids finger pointing against particular actors and affirms that a court of law not a series of media statements will determine what occurred and who is responsible.

The uprising in Syria, the most violent of the Arab Spring rebellions, is playing out slowly and lethally. The estimated 10,000 deaths over the last 18 months equal the number killed in just a few days in 1982 in the city of Hama by Assad s father, Hafez al Assad, whose scorched earth policy strengthened his hold on power and incurred only rhetorical condemnation from the international community.

In this sense, though Obama did not back away from rhetorical expressions of transformational goals regarding such issues as climate change or nuclear weapons, in practice his pragmatism was reminiscent of more incremental presidential leaders like Dwight Eisenhower or George H. W. Bush. Despite his relative inexperience in international affairs, Obama showed a similar skill in reacting to a complex set of foreign policy challenges.

The Palestinians are attempting to hold the stick at both ends, claiming before the world their endorsement of the two state solution while calling for the right of return at the same time. Any sober Palestinian leadership must know by now that the rhetorical promise of a return to an abandoned house and to the olive tree is an irresponsible mirage that fundamentally contradicts the rationale for a separate Palestinian state.

The latest detonation also tests whether the world can make addressing North Korea s dangerous aspirations a priority by uniting around a common policy that is more than rhetorical in its condemnation. One thing we know about the North Koreans is that, unless they can use such rhetoric in their own propaganda (they got far more traction out of former US President George W. Bush s infamous axis of evil remark than he ever did), they simply don t care what is said about them.