We sat inside the closed cafe as in a bunker, and atmosphere of insecurity reigned as he continued talking.

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Then he lit up a cigar, and continued talking as lucidly as if they had been Diet Cokes.

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The expansionist impulse continued under Teddy Roosevelt, whose big stick (carry one, while talking softly, he advised) and amendments to the Monroe Doctrine (his corollary proclaimed the United States' right to intervene anywhere in Latin America to prevent the Europeans doing so) have helped to make him a hero in today's Washington.

ECONOMIST: America and empire