VEŘEJNÁ SPRÁVA | TÝDENÍK VLÁDY ČESKÉ REPUBLIKY |
číslo 19 |
Brush Up Your English |
The heavyweights in the Bush Administration, on the contrary, are mostly skeptical - if not scornful - about the long-term value, to America, of a rule-based international system. Already before September 11, key American foreign policy strategists played up the need to free the United States from dubious international constraints and play down the value of acting through international organizations. Multilateralism, they essentially said, is for wimps. Since 9/11, there has been a resurgence of this strategy due to the mortal threats faced by the United States.
heavyweight - sleng. těžká váha, hlavoun scornful - opovržlivý value - hodnota key - klíčový dubious - pochybný, nejistý to play up - zdůrazňovat constraint - omezení, nátlak to play down - snižovat, znevažovat essentially - v zásadě wimp - sleng. slaboch resurgence - oživení, obnova due to - kvůli mortal - smrtelný, osudný
The new national security strategy, unveiled in September 2002, confirmed this Hobbesian worldview. Team Bush reiterated that the United States must retain its unparalleled military primacy; that it will prevent enemies from threatening it with weapons of mass destruction; and that it will strike pre-emptively whenever it sees itself at risk. It is the last bit that really unsettles Europeans. For the document made clear that America will act as the sole arbiter of what constitutes a threat, and of when it may decide on pre-emptive retaliation. In so far as the administration pays lip service to multilateralism, it defines that concept simply in terms of ad hoc coalitions - other countries signing up for a US-defined strategy but without a real influence over the nature of that strategy. The mantra holds that the mission defines the coalition, not the other way around. In sum, Washington will not be constrained by any broader set of international principles. And herein lies the crux - the fundamental disagreement that will not go away, even if a war on Iraq does not degenerate into the "mother of all trans-Atlantic battles". It is true that it has become a tired cliché to argue that Europeans are from Venus while Americans are from Mars. But, as with most clichés, it contains a large element of truth. On the whole, Europeans think that the consistent application and expansion of global rules and norms is vital - both in terms of effectiveness and legitimacy. Without international rules, the global system will degenerate into the law of the jungle. And we have been there before…
national security - národní bezpečnost unveiled - odhalený (veil - závoj) worldview - názor na svět to reiterate - opětovat to retain - ponechat si to threaten - vyhrožovat weapons of mass destruction - zbraně hromadného ničení to strike - udeřit to unsettle - mást, zviklat sole - sám to sign up for - přidat se k čemu other way around - obráceně in sum - zkráceně broader - širší crux - problém on the whole - v celku global - globální vital - zásadní to degenerate into - zvrhnout se v co law of jungle - zákon džungle
Připravuje Markéta Frýbová