Kryachkov 2!indd

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Д. А. Крячков
UNIT VI
most worried about issues . . . that have a greater chance of being solved by political engagement 
and huge sums of money. In other words, Europeans focus on issues — “challenges” — where Eu-
ropean strengths come into play but not on those “threats” where European weakness makes solu-
tions elusive. If Europe’s strategic culture today places less value on power and military strength 
and more value on such soft-power tools as economics and trade, isn’t it partly because Europe is 
militarily weak and economically strong? Americans are quicker to acknowledge the existence of 
threats, even to perceive them where others may not see any, because they can conceive of doing 
something to meet those threats.
Americans are “cowboys,” Europeans love to say. And there is truth in this. The United States 
does act as an international sheriff, self-appointed perhaps but widely welcomed nevertheless, 
trying to enforce some peace and justice in what Americans see as a lawless world where outlaws 
need to be deterred or destroyed, and often through the muzzle of a gun. Europe, by this old West 
analogy, is more like a saloonkeeper. Outlaws shoot sheriffs, not saloonkeepers. In fact, from the 
saloonkeeper’s point of view, the sheriff trying to impose order by force can sometimes be more 
threatening than the outlaws who, at least for the time being, may just want a drink.
Notes:
1. Kant’s “Perpetual Peace — the reference is made to Immanuel Kant’s essay Project for a Per-
petual Peace (1795) in which he advances the idea that popular and responsible governments 
are likely to be more inclined to promote peace and commerce. 
2. Hobbesian
1
world — According to the 17
th
century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, each 
person is free to decide for himself what he needs, what he’s owed, and also free to decide 
these questions for the behavior of everyone else, and to act on his judgments as he thinks 
best, enforcing his views where he can. The right of each to all things invites serious conflict. 
In this situation where there is no common authority to resolve serious disputes, such con-
flicts can easilty degenerate into a “state of war” or, even worse, a war of “all against all”.
COMPREHENSION 
Ex. 1. Identify the topic and the thesis of the text. Make sure they are neither too 
broad nor too narrow.
Ex. 2. Suggest Russian equivalents for these word combinations from the text.
efficacy 
of 
power 
martial 
glory
a self-contained world of laws and rules 
from time immemorial
punitive 
sanctions 
imperial 
thrashing
to emphasize the stick over the carrot
the ‘Mistress of the Seas’
the tilt toward unilateralism 
as far as it goes
to 
trade 
places 
through 
and 
through
the strategies of indirection 
a real practical payoff
an 
intolerable 
threat 
soft-power 
tools
Ex. 3. Think of several questions to bring out the main ideas and arguments the 
author puts forward in support of his thesis.
1 
[‘hɔbzɪən]
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