With the European Union and the United States estranged by the war, any effort to concentrate on relations with one could diminish ties with the other.
One sign of this, experts say, is the drastic drop in fertility rates, which for the church means fewer children to be baptized and confirmed, fewer young candidates to become priests and nuns, and diminishing ties for Catholic parents to the church.
The Fire had defeated Real Salt Lake on September 28, but their playoff chances were diminished after a tie against the Houston Dynamo on the weekend prior to the final.
In addition, some analysts speak almost sentimentally about the usefulness for German-American relations of the personal ties that have been established over the years by American troops stationed here, and the damage that would be done if those ties were diminished.
Two of the closest races will take place in Colorado, where Democrat Mark Udall's lead has recently diminished to a near-tie with Republican Cory Gardner, and in Iowa, where Bruce Braley and Joni Ernst are locked in a race in which neither candidate has led by more than a few points since June.
Implicitly, if not explicitly, their paradigmatic perspective suggests that homeland ties diminish the longer immigrants live in their adopted country.
"The impact of labor on American politics has diminished over time as the ties with the union labor force declined," says Hajnal.
He signed shrewdly in the summer and has managed his squad with enough aplomb that the early European qualifying ties have not diminished the squad's energy or application through the season.
Last year, Smith published a paper advocating a rise in the minimum wage to $15 based on knowledge in the field convincingly tying poverty to diminished physical and emotional wellbeing.
