"God, I just love saying that in her accent," Ms. de Matteo, 32, said in a voice throatier and more assertive than that of sweet, innocent, cocaine-snorting Adriana.
She wondered why the C.I.A. was giving members of Congress talking points that were far more assertive than anything she could say or defend herself.
Justice Sotomayor voted with the majority on the narrow technical grounds, but wrote an opinion that was even more assertive than Alito's opinion: what the court needs, she wrote, is a constitutional vision sensitive to radical change.
This new, more assertive Germany that sends troops to Bosnia and Kosovo and ringingly demands a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council also remains mindful of its past.
They have plenty of reason to want good enough relations to accomplish such things.Turn up the assertivenessThe most likely outcome is a more assertive China that wants to get more done abroad without fundamentally upsetting the world order.
Michael Stephens, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute in Qatar, speculated that the rich but tiny Gulf state wanted to drag Saudi Arabia into "a more assertive posture that produces a genuine sense of threat among Syrian decision makers".
So he defended China's stance on the South China Sea.Though the same American official told the New York Times that Mr Wen's response was "grouchy" at times, he acknowledged that at least the Chinese premier was "not on a tirade", nor did he use many of the more assertive formulas that are frequently heard from the Chinese.
"We need to be more assertive in that department, and stand our ground in our own homes, and teach our children to give us a break and be more appreciative".
Turkey's new self-awareness as a regional power means that rather than simply being able to rely on Turkey as an instrument of Western power projection in the Middle East, the West is now facing a stronger and more assertive Turkey that can and will disagree on key foreign policy issues.
For example, if you're a little bit of a pushover and want to be a little more assertive, write that down.
