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• s  bristling with perplexities
  the thorny question of states' rights
• s  having or covered with protective barbs or quills or spines or thorns or setae etc.

• Succession is always a thorny topic, but Li's case is especially sensitive because of his reputation as a brilliant dealmaker whose instincts may be impossible to duplicate.
• Scrawny, stunted and thorny, the plant then symbolized Boeing's postwar plight, with two of the company's plants silent and empty, 38,000 of its wartime workers out of jobs.
• The richest German industrial prize in the westthe Ruhr Valleylast week turned out to be a thorny package.

• barbed
• barbellate
• briary
• briery
• bristled
• bristly
• burred
• burry
• prickly
• setose
• setaceous
• spiny

News & Articles

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• Kerry facing 2 thorny foreign policy issues on trip: crisis in Syria and talks with Taliban
  WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry is beginning an overseas trip plunging into two thorny U.S. foreign policy problems: unrelenting bloodshed in Syria and efforts to talk to the Taliban and end the war in Afghanistan.
  June 21, 2013 - Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
• Noxious weeds a thorny issue
  Farmers, gardeners, ranchers and property owners are dealing a with a thorny issue that is quickly growing out of control. Scotch thistle is an invasive weed that can seem almost invincible to land owners.
  June 21, 2013 - The Spectrum
• Kerry Trip Brings Tough Syrian Issues
  Kerry facing 2 thorny foreign policy issues on trip: crisis in Syria and talks with Taliban        
  June 21, 2013 - ABC News

Quotes

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• Vladimir Putin in International Herald Tribune
  Putin called Solzhenitsyn "our compatriot and contemporary," saying the "entire thorny path of his life will remain for us an example of genuine devotion and selfless serving to the people, fatherland and the ideals of freedom, justice and...
• Ben Bernanke in International Herald Tribune
  Some particularly thorny issues are raised by the existence of financial institutions that may be perceived as 'too big to fail,' and the moral hazard issues that may arise when governments intervene in a financial crisis,Bernanke said.
• Barack Obama in BusinessWeek
  Obama said "reform has been held hostage to political posturing and special-interest wrangling and to the pervasive sentiment in Washington that tackling such a thorny and emotional issue is inherently bad politics."