Fill in the blanks with the right words.
The Iran-U.S. peace talks in Islamabad have ended with no agreement. The whole world was waiting ——– (with bated breath, optimistically, pessimistically) to hear some positive outcome from the meeting that lasted close to 20 hours. In fact, world leaders including President Xi of China ————- (influenced, overshadowed, nudged) both sides to reach an agreement that could at least prolong the 2-week long ceasefire presently in force. But that was not to be. The failure of the high-level talks was due to the fact that neither side were willing to ———————- (compromise, cede, give up) any ground from their publicly stated maximalist positions.
The collapse of the talks has pushed the Middle East to the edge again. A large majority of civilians there —————– (beg, yearn, crave) for peace. They want permanent respite from bombings and the massive destruction they cause. But such strong public sentiment hardly —————– (effects, affects, impacts) the negotiators most of whom are conservatives in their thinking. Such hardliners now ——————– (decide, determine, call the shots) in the region. It’s almost certain that drones, missiles and bombers will soon fill the skies over Middle East soon.
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