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15. Russia - the largest country on earth - emerged from a decade of post-Soviet economic and political turmoil to seek to reassert itself as a world power.
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15. Russia - the largest country on earth - emerged from a decade of post-Soviet economic and political turmoil to seek to reassert itself as a world power.
- Putin has described the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle as a technological breakthrough comparable to the 1957 Soviet launch of the first satellite
- Moscow has repeatedly demonstrated in recent years a knack for innovation and an ability to adapt to an ever-changing political, geopolitical, and technological environment.
18. If soft power is thought of as the use of religious and/or cultural affinity to achieve foreign policy objectives, then many of Russia’s neighbors remain quite receptive to Russian soft power
19. Moscow’s attempts to expand to the Asian markets in its quest to diversify its choice of economic partners is, in fact, a quite rational policy given the prospects of Asian market growth.
- One of the most important components of Russia’s efforts to increase its economic sovereignty is a high-profile import-substitution (importozameshchenie) campaign that is already well established.
- Russia is undoubtedly a major power, commanding the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, the world’s largest proven reserves of natural gas and a veto on the United Nations Security Council.
- Reforms have improved the regulatory environment and cut red tape, but these gains have not been matched by progress in tackling corruption, which remains a major scourge for business.
- A Knowledge-based economy is important for widening the scope of labor from producing goods on an assembly line to greater flexibility in design, manufacture and implementation of business ideas.
- Successful diversification, however, would require the country to adopt a different politico-economic model, with a business-friendly environment, support for entrepreneurship, and an emphasis on technological innovation.
25. Russia will also seek to solidify its position as the major great power in the Middle East, viewed by the Sunni and Shia states—and Israel—as the only player that can talk to all sides and takes a non-ideological approach to the region.
26. Dealing effectively with Russia should begin with respecting the legitimacy of core Russian security interests. Not least among them is a determination to prevent any further encroachment by NATO into Russia’s near abroad.
27. The influence of soft power is very difficult to measure. It is associated with intangible resources such as culture or ideology, as well as the ability to use them skillfully in order to gain allies through attraction rather than coercion or payments.
28. The soft power of the BRICS is not an expression of just one set of national values, but of the common values that this group of nations feels should underlie the international order. Russia’s worldview fits this agenda like a glove, thereby magnifying the impact of Russian soft power.
- Like the United States, Russia’s soft-power history began centuries ago with its language, culture, music and religion but, unlike the United States, which believes that its values of freedom and democracy have universal applicability, Russia’s values traditionally have been directed inward, toward uniting the nation and its people.
- 30. After his election as president in 2000, Putin added to this agenda an overarching goal: the recovery of economic, political and geostrategic assets lost by the Soviet state in 1991. Although he has never spelled it out formally, Putin has pursued this objective with such determination, coherence, and consistency that it merits being called the Putin Doctrine.
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Exercise 2 Write down and translate the nouns and adjectives formed with the prefix non-
nonalignment, noncompliance, noncommittal, nonexistent, noninterference, nonintervention, nonjudgmental, nonnegotiable, nonpartisan, nonproliferation, nonrenewable, nonprofit, nonsense, nonverbal, nonviolent
Exercise 3
1) Form verbs from the following nouns and translate them:
allocation, assertiveness, corruption, competitiveness, incentive, prosperity, resurgence, threat, peril, endurance, perception, perseverance, priority, deterrence, diversification, security
2) Form nouns from the following verbs and translate them
adopt, draft, damage, elaborate, expand, formulate, implement, jump-start, kick-start, outline, pursue, regulate, rescue, reverse, revive.
Exercise 4. Put the verbs in the list under the correct rubric:
1. adopt, carry out, conduct, change, define, design, draft, elaborate, fashion, follow, formulate, implement, outline, reverse, pursue, shape a policy
· crafting foreign policy
· executing foreign policy
2. boost, control, damage, develop, expand, improve, jump-start, kick-start, liberalize, regulate, reinvigorate, rescue, revive, stabilize, stimulate,
· managing economy
· bolstering economy
Exercise 5. Write down and translate attributive phrases describing:
a) foreign policy
aggressive, balanced, belligerent, coherent, (in)consistent, controversial, deliberate, hostile, independent, isolationist, international, official, rash, rational, reckless
b) economy
advanced, ailing, booming, buoyant, depressed, developed, dynamic, flagging, fragile, healthy, international, liberal, market, mixed, robust, service-based, sound, stable, strong, stagnant, weak.
Exercise 6 Add at least three words to each of the following rows:
· enhance economic performance; the quality of life…..
· deploy a missile shield, nuclear weapons…..
· restore the status; influence; …..
· repel an attack, aggression, …..
· safeguard borders, democracy ……
· uphold the law, principle….
· historical legacy, memory, …..
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