首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
For eight years the Clinton Administration preached the need for exquisite sensitivity to the Russians. They’d had a rough time.
For eight years the Clinton Administration preached the need for exquisite sensitivity to the Russians. They’d had a rough time.
admin
2011-03-10
29
问题
For eight years the Clinton Administration preached the need for exquisite sensitivity to the Russians. They’d had a rough time. They needed nurturing from their new American friends.
They got it. We fed them loans, knowing that much of the money would disappear corruptly. We turned away from atrocity in Chechnya lest we weaken the new Russian state. But most important, we went weak in the knees on missile defense. The prospect of American antiballistic missiles upset the Russians. And upsetting the Russians was something we simply were not to do.
The Russians cannot keep up with American technology. And they fear that an American missile shield will render obsolete their last remnant of greatness: their monster, nuclear-tipped missiles. So they insist that we adhere to a 1972 treaty signed with the defunct Soviet Union that prohibited either side from developing missile defenses. That the treaty is obsolete-it long predates the world of rogue states racing to acquire missile-launched weapons of mass destruction-does not concern the Russians. Withdraw from the treaty, they said, and you have destroyed the "strategic stability" on which the peace of the world depends.
The Clinton Administration took that threat seriously-so seriously that for eight years it equivocated on building an American ABM system. Finally, President Clinton promised to decide by June 2000. Come June, he punted.
Eight years, and no defense. But the bear was content.
Bear contentment was never a high priority for Ronald Reagan. He offered a different model for dealing with the Russians. The 1980s model went by the name of peace through strength. But it was more than that. It was judicious but unapologetic unilateralism. It was willingness-in the face of threats and bluster from foreign adversaries and nervous apprehension from domestic critics-to do what the U.S. needed to do for its own security. Regardless.
It was Reagan who famously proposed a missile shield, and even more famously refused to barter it away at the Reykjavik summit, an event many historians consider the turning point in the cold war. That marked the beginning of the Soviets’ definitive realization that they were going to lose the arms race to the U.S.-and that neither threats nor cajoling would dissuade the U.S. from running it.
This decade starts with a return to the unabashed unilateralism of the 1980s. It began last year with a speech by George W. Bush proposing that the U.S. build weapons to meet American needs-and not to accommodate the complaints or gain the agreement of other countries. For 40 years the U.S. would not cut its offensive nuclear missiles except in conjunction with Soviet cuts. Bush’s refreshing question was: Why? We don’t need Rnssians cutting our offensive weapons through arms-control treaties. And we don’t need Russians telling us whether or not to build defensive weapons.
This was the genesis of the Bush Doctrine, now taking shape as the Administration takes power. Its motto is, we build to suit-ourselves. Accordingly, the President and the Secretary of Defense have been unequivocal about their determination to go ahead with a missile defense.
They staked their claim. And what happened? Did the sky fall, as the Clinton Russian experts warned? On the contrary. Convinced at last of American seriousness, the Russians immediately acquiesced. After just one month of Bush, Moscow has come forward with its very own missile-defense plan. The fact that it is not well sketched out and that it is in part designed to split the U.S. off from Europe is beside the point. The Russians have responded, as did the Soviets before them, to American firmness. Faced with reality, they accommodate it.
Who defines reality; there lies the difference between this Administration and the last. Clinton let Russian opposition define reality. Bush, like Reagan, understands that the U.S. can reshape, indeed remake, reality on its own.
In the liberal internationalist view of the world, the U.S. is merely one among many-a stronger country, yes, but one that has to adapt itself to the will and the needs of "the international community." That is why the Clinton Administration was almost manic in pursuit of multilateral treaties-on chemical weapons, biological weapons, nuclear testing, proliferation. No matter that they could not be enforced. Our very signing would show us to be a good international citizen.
This is folly. America is not mere international citizen. It is the dominant power in the world, more dominant than any since Rome. Accordingly America is in a position to reshape norms, alter expectations and create new realities. How? By unapologetic and implacable demonstrations of will.
What does the author conclude from Russia’s response (Moscow has come forward with its very own missile-defense plan.)?
选项
A、They staked their claim.
B、Russia is afraid of the United States.
C、Russia will continue its opposition to the United States’ withdrawal from the ABM treaty.
D、Russia will adapt to the reality reshaped by the United States.
答案
D
解析
作者从俄罗斯的反应(莫斯科推出了自己的导弹防御计划)中得出什么结论?从该段最后一句可看出:Faced with reality,they accommodate it.
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/OCYO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Themajorityofcountriesintheworldspendlargeamountsofmoneydevelopingweaponstodefendthemselvesthoughtheyarenot
Note-takingSkillsNote-takingrequiresahighlevelofabilityinmanyskills,particularlyinthefollowingfourmostimpo
A、thedevelopmentoftherubberindustryinMalaysiaB、theimpactofrubberindustryonMalaysiaC、theunevendistributionofwe
PaulaJones’caseagainstBillClintonisnow,forallpossiblepoliticalconsequencesandcapacityformediasensation,afairy
Theworld’spopulationcontinuestogrow.Therenowareabout4billionofusonearth.Thatcouldreach6billionbytheendof
ThebiggestproblemfacingChileasitpromotesitselfasatouristdestinationtobereckonedwith,isthatitisattheendof
Ifpollutioncontinuestoincreaseatthepresentrate,formationofaerosolsintheatmospherewillcausetheonsetofanicea
A、TheBritish.B、Germans.C、Americans.D、Notmentioned.C
GreenpeaceisaninternationalenvironmentalorganizationfoundedinVancouver,Canadain1971.Itsgoalistoassuretheabilit
A、Theirrelationshipswithclassmates.B、Theirrelationshipswithparents.C、Theirrelationshipswithteachers.D、Theirrelation
随机试题
简述影响供应商议价能力的主要因素。
有关中度以上烧伤,在伤后48小时需要着重防治
慢性淋巴细胞性白血病的特征是
腰椎间盘突出症最常用的体检是
劳力过度易伤
股份有限公司发行债券时,其累计债券总额不得超过公司净资产额的()。
2010年8月20日,李某向胡某借款并签订了一份借款合同,还款期为2011年8月20日。但是胡某将此事忘记,直到2012年9月10日才想起。此诉讼时效期间的起算时间是()。
下列关于医学常识的表述,正确的是()。
ThestretchofthePacificbetweenHawaiiandCaliforniaisvirtuallyempty.Therearenoislands,noshippinglanes,nohumanp
Cripplinghealthcarebills,longemergency-roomwaitsandtheinabilitytofindaprimarycarephysicianjustscratchthesurfa
最新回复
(
0
)