(It also would have superseded the murder charges brought against the Democratic Party s leader, former Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.) But Yingluck s subsequent attempt to backtrack on the amnesty measure failed to mollify the opposition.

Following the referendum, it agreed to what it and the voters had just rejected a set of very painful and difficult conditions. Tsipras and his new finance minister, Euclid Tsakalotos, have gone to extraordinary lengths to mollify Greece s creditors.

The West should seek to mollify Russia on core strategic questions like NATO expansion. But that will not help Putin to overcome the source of Russia s weakness, which lies in his inability or unwillingness to see the Soviet Union for the failure that it was.

The EU is thus caught between demands for more solidarity from the young in its southern members and dissatisfaction with open borders among the elderly in the north. It is tempting to try to mollify both groups by relaxing austerity and ditching the border free Schengen area.

Yet Modi has said nothing to quiet his supporters or mollify his critics, raising concerns among investors especially foreigners about his ability to manage his own constituents. For example, Lorenz Reibling, of the German American firm Taurus Investment Holdings, had a few questions beginning with the implications of recent anti Christian and Muslim tirades and conversion propositions before committing to a major investment in India.

Abe would do even more damage to the region s perception of Japan were he to use his speech to try to mollify right wing supporters. Chinese and Koreans, in particular, will be incensed should he avoid overt apologies for Japan s behavior during World War II or question criticism of its conduct at the time, such as the Imperial Japanese Army s sexual enslavement of Korean comfort women.

In turn, faster growth was expected to revitalize the labor market, counteract worsening income inequality, mollify concerns about debt and deficit levels, and enable the Federal Reserve to start normalizing monetary policy in an orderly fashion. It would also facilitate a return by Congress to more normal economic governance whether passing an annual budget, something not accomplished in four years, or finally taking steps to enhance rather than impede growth and job creation.