crony

Businessmen may be worthy of government grants. But Americans are more likely to call them "cronies" than "entrepreneurs" .

Even his old cronies who had ridden with him to power ganged up with Shanghai merchants to drive China's dictator from his capital.

He would see the madness in investors' eyes. . . and palsied hands of his central banker cronies.

The merchants got rich but few warmed to the Assads or their Alawite cronies, who have behaved like mafiosi, demanding a slice of every pie.

Salem assigned each of his brothers a prince to cultivate, while he worked on accumulating powerful cronies in the United States.

I fear he will track down Banker, male, 49 pretty quickly, given that you are one of the only surviving non-cronies on his top team.

Finally, if western intelligence agencies possess evidence of any corruption by Mr Putin or his cronies they should publish it.

Since the unrest began, we have imposed strong financial sanctions on Asad and dozens of his cronies.

The round-table deal was a canny fix, in which weak-willed opposition figures allowed the cronies of the old regime to maintain their power.

The fashion now is for "smart" sanctions, which try to isolate and hurt the regime and its cronies, not the innocent.

There is no plausible expectation that Assad will lead a process of reform, one that inevitably forces him and his cronies out of business.

He predicted victory for the former ruling party, a gang of cronies known as the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), or PML(Q).

"But as time went on, the cronies around him started taking advantage of the system, " he says.

I just thought one of his cronies wanted me tohave the journal and thought I'd be interested in the book.

"I'm not optimistic about the future, " Mr. Wu said. "The Maoists want to go back to central planning and the cronies want to get richer. "

With unemployment widespread, wealth became concentrated more tightly in the hands of a small class of regime members and their cronies.

Throughout JK Rowling's books and film adaptations, Neville was a subject of ridicule by school villain Draco Malfoy and his cronies.

A daily (or even more frequent) Twitter 'tweet' from you keeps your cronies and well-wishers abreast of your latest job-search happenings.

The only problem of Mr Putin's system is that stepping aside even for a short time could be lethal for him and his cronies .

He flew from Camp Columbia, the city's main military base, to exile in the Dominican Republic with an entourage of relatives and cronies.

This could all add uncertainty in an otherwise clear race between two pro-Beijing cronies for the city's top job in an election next March.

Libya's destiny is now rightfully in the hands of its people, having been hijacked by Gaddafi and his cronies for almost 42 years.

Was accused of discriminating against women; discriminated in favor of his cronies.

Before the Arab spring his attempts to modernise the economy enriched a coterie of his cronies but did little for ordinary Syrians.

Instead Western powers are hoping that Mr Assad's cronies will begin to desert him as the international pressure mounts.

Indeed, two more of the junta's cronies were added to a Treasury blacklist days before Mr Bush left office.

Odinga also said Ouattara talks with his some of Gbagbo promised to appoint cronies in the new government as minister of posts.

His energy policy was written by Mr Cheney with the help of a handful of cronies from the energy industry.

There was a small core of Himmler cronies in the Waffen-SS panzer divisions.

For the United States and NATO, this is a humanitarian mission, while for Qaddafi and his cronies it is a matter of life or death.

Zhou was under indirect attack by Mao's cronies through a campaign criticising Confucius.

Zhou was under indirect attack by Mao's cronies through a campaign criticizing Confucius.

All these people were her cronies, and it would be impossible for outsiders to come into the palace to poison the emperor.

Such is his eagerness to serve that he has taken a low-profile job often given to unremarkable cronies of the president.

Teaching methods are outdated, universities are stuffed with cronies and smothered by Communist orthodoxy.

Grandfather often toddled round to the club for a chat with his cronies.

Some of Garcia's associates have been caught on tape talking about how to sell off the Amazon to their cronies.

Meanwhile, as in Egypt and Tunisia, Mr Qaddafi's relatives and cronies monopolised many of the most lucrative business opportunities.

Suddenly, a SWAT team bursts through the doors and arrests Frank and his cronies.

Mr Putin has packed the Kremlin and state companies with cronies, suggesting he trusts only long-time friends and is intensely loyal.

With wealth and power so unevenly distributed, they turned into an ugly wealth grab for the regime's cronies.

It's time that leaders, and their cronies, learned that no one is above the law.

His mistakes were greatest when prompted by his family and their cronies.

These final days are when he must protect his family and cronies, all of whom have enriched themselves through questionable means.

Depriving Mr Mugabe's cronies of trips to a decent country that works could have a salutary effect.

As long as their cronies are assured of reliable access to lavish benefits, protest will be severely suppressed.

Autocrats therefore need to ensure a continuing flow of benefits to their cronies.

There is little trade with the outside, and the centrally planned system reserves the wealth for the military and regime cronies.

If Bush were still in office I'd wonder if his cronies were just beating their war drum again.

Mr Ozawa's cronies may feel they have no option but to support him.

The minister's cronies have an election coming up, and the best way to placate voters is to promise them land.

If Mr Kim and his cronies are not tried for crimes against humanity, it may be because they have already been strung up from lampposts.

A series of Stalin cronies condemned him as "bankrupt" and "making crude mistakesfor which the party must judge him. "

He strengthened his position by pledging not to run again, lessening the need to buy support from cronies.

Of course this is model that David Cameron and his coalition cronies are keen to emulate, hence their toadying trip to China.

I was in no position to shake the proffered hand when the leader introduced himself and his cronies.

The country's financial regulators were incompetent at best, cronies at worst.

But it did show the problems with overinvestment by cronies.

Introducing a new government while his family and his cronies are robbing the state treasury is a formidable task.

Now they are lining their cronies' pockets by "privatising" state assets.

Critics say that the government restaffed the firm with incompetent cronies and placemen.

He was playing cards with his cronies.

These concerns are still addressed primarily by cultivating Mr. Saleh, his family and cronies.

Most CEOs surround themselves with their cronies.

You gave him an important work of each, he will do, the person can do you cronies .

One of my most decadent college cronies is now a bishop. Lawyer, male, 54

Appointed some duty of cronies to provinces to do the governor, improve the relationship between the central and provinces;

Falstaff and the other grotesque cronies of the young prince

China is North Korea's primary enabler; Kim and his cronies should be thanking Beijing daily for their surviva