Пособие СПП Часть 1

ПОСОБИЕ ПО ПЕРЕВОДУ
СОЦИАЛЬНО-ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИХ ТЕКСТОВ
Учебно-методическое пособие представляет собой тематический

сборник текстов общественно-политической направленности. Цель пособия –
формирование и развитие навыков письменного и устного перевода,
перевода с листа с английского языка на русский язык и наоборот на
материале статей из источников англоязычной прессы, отражающих
актуальные проблемы современных международных отношений;
формирование умений вести беседу и делать краткие сообщения в пределах
предлагаемого тематического материала.
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ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ
Перевод общественно-политических текстов

1. В газетных заголовках типа ‘Russian delegation to hold security
talks in Iran’ или ‘Russian-Chinese Foreign Ministers to meet’ инфинитив
указывает на то, что действие произойдет в ближайшем будущем:
‘Российская делегация проведет переговоры по вопросу безопасности в
Иране’, ‘Состоится встреча министров иностранных дел России и
Китая’. Глагол в Present Simple Tense в заголовке означает, что действие
относится к прошлому: ‘Russia Signs WTO Accession Protocol with UAE’ –
‘Россия подписала протокол о вступлении в ВТО с ОАЭ’.
2. Обратите внимание на то, что в США и Великобритании
существует различие в наименовании должности министра иностранных дел:
State Secretary – госсекретарь США (министр иностранных дел США);
Foreign Secretary – министр иностранных дел Великобритании.
Deputy Foreign Secretary – заместитель министра иностранных дел
Великобритани).
Соответственно различаются и названия министерств:
State Department – Госдепартамент (Министерство иностранных дел
США);
Foreign Office – Министерство иностранных дел Великобритании.
Необходимо различать употребление слов minister и ministry, с
которых мы передаем понятия, соответствующие русским министр и
министерство, от общепринятых в США и Великобритании терминов
secretary и department.
3. Простой инфинитив (to do), следующий за конструкцией to be
expected (to be reported, to be believed, to be announced и т. д.), относит
действие к будущему, а перфектный (to have done) – к прошлому:
The sides are also expected to discuss the Iranian nuclear program.
Ожидается, что стороны также обсудят ядерную программу Ирана.
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The Foreign Secretary is reported to have had talks with Russian
government delegation.
По сообщениям прессы, министр иностранных дел Великобритании
провел переговоры с представителями российского правительства.
4. Глагол to be с инфинитивом с частицей to выполняет функцию
модального глагола и употребляется для выражения необходимости
совершить действие согласно предварительной договоренности или заранее
намеченному плану:
Lavrov is to meet with Slovenian Foreign Minister.
Лавров должен встретиться с министром иностранных дел Словении.
5. Head of State – глава государства, Heads of State – главы
государств.
Обратите внимание, что во втором случае существительное state
употребляется в форме единственного числа.
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UNIT I
ARRIVALS, VISITS, TALKS
1. Active Vocabulary: words and word combinations

1. to arrive –прибывать, приезжать
to arrive in (a country, a city)
to arrive at (a station, an airport)
2. an invitation – приглашение
at the invitation – по приглашению
to accept an invitation – принять приглашение
to reject an invitation – отклонить приглашение
to convey an invitation – передать приглашение
3. a stay – пребывание
4. a counterpart – коллега, человек, выполняющий аналогичные
обязанности или занимающий аналогичный пост в другой стране
an envoy – посланник
a negotiator – участник переговоров
a mediator – посредник
a representative – представитель
a spokesman – пресс-секретарь
an aide – помощник
an official – официальное лицо
an ambassador – посол
British Ambassador to Moscow – посол Великобритании в Москве
5. a visit – визит
an (un)official visit – (не)официальный визит
a three-day visit – трехдневный визит
a return visit – ответный визит
to arrive on a visit – прибыть с визитом
to be on a visit to a country – находиться с визитом в стране
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to pay (make) a visit – нанести визит
6. talks – переговоры
talks on the Middle East – переговоры по Ближнему Востоку
in the course of the talks – в ходе (процессе) переговоров
bilateral – двусторонние переговоры
unilateral – односторонние переговоры
tripartite – трехсторонние переговоры
multilateral – многосторонние переговоры
summit(top-level, high-level) – переговоры на высшем уровне
direct – прямые переговоры
preliminary – предварительные переговоры
fruitful – плодотворные переговоры
fruitless – безрезультатные переговоры
to attend talks – участвовать в переговорах
to hold (have, carry out) talks – проводить переговоры
to cancel talks – отменить переговоры
to restart (resume, revive) talks – возобновить переговоры
to pull out (walk out) of talks – выйти из переговоров
to adjourn talks – переносить переговоры
to suspend talks –приостановить переговоры
to accelerate talks – ускорить переговоры
to call a new round of talks – назначить новый раунд переговоров
7. relations – отношения
to establish diplomatic relations – установить дипломатические
отношения
to break off relations – разорвать отношения
to improve strained relations – налаживать напряженные отношения
to develop relations – развивать отношения
to normalize relations – нормализовать отношения
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to restore diplomatic relations – восстановить дипломатические
отношения
to sour (worsen) relations – ухудшить отношения
to exacerbate relations – вызывать опасное обострение отношений
8. to welcome – приветствовать (встречать)
he was welcomed by – его приветствовал(и)
to give a warm welcome – оказать теплый прием
to get a warm welcome – получить теплый прием
9. cordial – сердечный, радушный
cordiality – сердечность, радушие
in an atmosphere of cordiality – в сердечной атмосфере
in a friendly (amiable) atmosphere – в дружелюбной атмосфере
10. to exchange – обменивать(ся)
to exchange opinions (views) on – обмениваться мнениями (взглядами)
to exchange visits – обмениваться визитами
11. an issue – проблема
disputable (contentious) – спорный
topical (key) – актуальный, злободневный
urgent – срочный
primordial (pivotal)– первостепенной важности
2. Translate into Russian using Active Vocabulary:

1) The Prime Minister of Britain arrived in Moscow yesterday at the
invitation of his Russian counterpart.
2) The President of Senegal arrived in London from Paris on a four-day
state visit during which he will meet and hold talks with the British Prime Minister
and the Foreign Secretary.
3) The Russian Foreign Minister will make an official visit to Great
Britain, it was announced here today. The visit is in return for the recent visit to
Moscow of the British Foreign Secretary.
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4) The President of Pakistan has accepted an official invitation to visit
France, it was announced today.
5) During their stay in London the delegation of the Polish government
headed by the Prime Minister will have talks with the British leaders.
6) The Deputy Foreign Minister is expected to arrive in Warsaw on an
official visit next week.
7) At the airport the Foreign Secretary was greeted by the US Secretary
of State and other high-ranking officials. The delegation was warmly warmed
everywhere.
8) The head of the delegation is reported to have had talks with Russian
officials.
9) The EU’s special envoy to the Middle East said that Syria expressed
willingness to find a formula to renew the Israeli-Syrian peace process which has
been frozen since March 1996.
10) The US Administration will next week bring Israeli and Syrian
negotiators together in a bid to resume talks which were suspended six months ago.
11) On Wednesday, the United States agreed to send a high-ranking
diplomat to attend talks with Iran over its nuclear program, and was considering
establishing a diplomatic presence in Tehran for the first time since the 1979
revolution and hostage crisis.
12) North Korea said Friday it will attend preliminary peace talks in New
York.
13) South Korea on Thursday shrugged off as a temporary setback a
decision by North Korea to cancel talks with the US on missile proliferation.
14) Israel and the Palestinians agreed to accelerate peace talks.
15) Ambassadors of the 26-nation alliance confronted Russia’s envoy,
Dmitri Rogozin, during a meeting in Brussels. ‘There was a clear and sometimes
sharp exchange of views and no meeting of minds,’ said James Appathurai, a
NATO spokesman.
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16) A leading American envoy pulled out of talks on the long-delayed
Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank city of Hebron last night.
17) The German Chancellor arrived in Moscow yesterday on a six-day
official visit and went straight into the talks with the Russian President. In the
course of talks they will deal with arms control issues and strengthening bilateral
relations.
18) A new round of UN sponsored talks between Afghanistan and
Pakistan began in Geneva yesterday. The talks are expected to last 3 days during
which all the disputable questions will be discussed.
19) Yesterday in Amman the prime Ministers of Jordan and Syria held a
second round of talks aimed at overcoming political differences between their
countries.
20) All 27 E.U. states agreed to resume formal talks with Russia to
reestablish the defunct accords that cover a wide range of security, economic,
energy and administrative issues.
3. Translate the following headlines:

1) EU and Russia agree to new series of wide-ranging talks
2) In Brief – Russia Signs WTO Accession Protocol with UAE
3) Russian delegation to hold security talks in Iran
4) Nuke Talks with North Korea to Resume
5) Russia and U.S. to sign civilian nuclear pact
6) U.S. and Czech Republic sign deal on missile shield
7) Missile defense system hinders progress at Russia and U.S. talks
8) Venezuela, Colombia hold talks to repair ties
9) Talks signal Mideast shift
10) Germany moves into Georgia-Russia dispute
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4. Translate the following article into Russian using Active Vocabulary:
Russian delegation to hold security talks in Iran

MOSCOW, April 28 (RIA Novosti)
A high-ranking Russian Security Council official will hold talks with senior
Iranian officials in Tehran on Monday.
The Russian delegation headed by acting Security Council secretary
Valentin Sobolev is also due to meet with the Secretary of the Supreme National
Security Council, Saeed Jalili, as a follow up to the secretary’s visit to Moscow in
December 2007.
The officials will discuss ‘bilateral cooperation in security, as well as
topical international and regional issues,’ Iran’s Security Council said in an official
statement. The sides are also expected to discuss the Iranian nuclear program, as
well as the situation in the Middle East, a source close the negotiations told RIA
Novosti.
A delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency, led by its
deputy director general, Olli Heinonen, will also arrive in Tehran on Monday to
continue talks on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program started last week.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran was prepared to try and reach
an agreement with any country over its nuclear program, but will not stop its
development of peaceful atomic energy despite outside pressure.
The international community has demanded that Tehran halt uranium
enrichment, used both in electricity generation and nuclear weapons production.
Iran insists on its right to civilian nuclear energy, and has defied three sets of
United Nations sanctions over its nuclear program.
Iran, however, announced this month it was installing another 6,000
uranium enrichment centrifuges at its underground facility in Natanz in addition to
the current 3,000. The country also announced tests of advanced enrichment
centrifuges, along with plans to build a second uranium processing plant by next
March.
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The country’s nuclear ambitions have fueled tensions with Washington,
with U.S. President George Bush refusing late last year to rule out military action
against Tehran.
Russia and China, which both have strong business interests in Iran,
blocked stronger measures against the country using their vetoes at the UN
Security Council.
28/04/2008, International Herald Tribune
5. Answer the questions:

1) What is the Russian delegation’s visit to Tehran aimed at?
2) Who will a high-ranking Russian Security Council official hold talks
with?Who is the Russian delegation headed by?
3) What issues will the Russian and Iranian officials discuss during this
meeting?
4) Who will also arrive in Tehran to continue talks on the Islamic Republic’s
nuclear program?
5) What has the international community demanded from Tehran to do?
6) What announcements were made by the Iranian government this month?
7) Why has the Iranian nuclear program raised concern in the West?
8) How did the USA, Russia and China try to put more pressure on the Iranian
government?
6. Translate the following article into Russian using Active Vocabulary
Putin, still potent, comes to Paris

Vladimir Putin may no longer be President of Russia, but you wouldn’t
know that by the head-of-state treatment he’s receiving in France. On Thursday,
Putin began a two-day trip to Paris — his first major foreign excursion since
swapping his presidency for the job of Prime Minister — where he’ll meet with
both his French counterpart, F. Fillon, and President N. Sarkozy. The unusually
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reverential treatment for a visiting head of government reflects the belief among
France’s leaders, like most others in the West, that Putin remains the eminent
political force in Russia regardless of his title. But the visit also reflects Putin’s
belief that the road to repairing Russia’s strained relations with the European
Union runs through Paris.
Russian officials quoted in the media acknowledge that the timing and focus
of Putin’s visit indicate that Moscow sees a diplomatic opportunity in the fact that
France will assume the E.U.’s rotating presidency on July 1. Efforts to renew
expired strategic accords that shaped Russo-European relations have floundered for
nearly two years amid tensions over military and energy concerns, and European
complaints of alleged human rights violations and election-tampering in Russia.
Recently, however, both sides have signaled a greater willingness to normalize ties
— especially since new E.U. members Poland and Lithuania expressed satisfaction
with Russian responses to their objections on a now-lifted beef ban, and over
Moscow’s use of its oil pipeline to the West as a de facto political weapon. Indeed,
just last Monday, all 27 E.U. states agreed to resume formal talks to reestablish the
defunct accords that cover a wide range of security, economic, energy and
administrative issues.
‘This topic will be primordial during the meetings with Prime Minister F.
Fillon and President N. Sarkozy,’ a Russian government source told the RIA
Novosti press agency. ‘Since we’ve always considered dialogue with France as an
important factor in the rapprochement between Russia and the E.U., our
cooperation will be accorded a choice spot during the French presidency.’
The friendship between Sarkozy and Putin reflects a common view on some
major strategic questions: France shares Russia’s concern over NATO opening
formal membership talks with former Soviet republics Georgia and the Ukraine.
Paris also echoes some of Moscow’s suspicion over U.S. plans to deploy its
missile-defense system in Eastern Europe. Such sympathy for Russian positions
should leave Moscow feeling more comfortable with France assuming the E.U.
presidency just as negotiations over new Russo-European accords kick off June 26.
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French voters may not share Sarkozy’s enthusiasm for Putin, but few will
object if it results in improved Russo-E.U. ties. And improved ties between
Moscow and Paris are good for French business. Talks between Putin and French
officials will cover contracts for French military, aerospace, energy and technology
companies — including plans for oil giant Total’s involvement in developing
Russia’s giant Shtokman gas field. Though France is only Russia’s sixth-largest
trading partner, improved bilateral relations have recently helped triple the value of
their annual exchange to $25.7 billion. And in an economically sluggish France,
there will be few voices willing to shout nyet to that.
29/05 /2008, Time

1) At whose invitation did the Russian Prime Minister arrive in Paris?
2) Who will V. Putin meet with during his two-day stay in Paris?
3) What is the primary goal of the Russian Prime Minister’s official trip to
France?
4) How do the Russian officials assess the Russian Prime Minister’s visit to
France? Does this visit mean the beginning of the improvement of tense Russo-
European relations?
5) What formal talks did all 27 E.U. states agree to resume with Russia?
6) How have the relations between Russia and France been developing lately?
7) What issues will be covered by the Russian Prime Minister and French
officials during the talks?
8. Turn to current press materials and find the information:

 what delegation paid a visit to our country recently, at whose
invitation the delegation visited Russia, what kind of visit it was, who headed the
delegation, who was the delegation welcomed by, who the delegation had talks
with, what problems were discussed during the talks, etc.
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UNIT II
COOPERATION AND AGREEMENT
1. Active Vocabulary: words and word combinations:

1. cooperation – сотрудничество
versatile (multiform, multisided) cooperation – многостороннее
сотрудничество
fruitful cooperation – плодотворное сотрудничество
comprehensive cooperation – всеобъемлющее сотрудничество
cooperation in research work – сотрудничество в научно-
исследовательской области
to cooperate in the field (sphere, branch, area) of economy – сотрудничать
в области экономики
to intensify cooperation – усилить сотрудничество
2. an agreement (a contract, a deal, an accord) – соглашение, договор
a preliminary agreement – предварительное соглашение
an initial agreement – первоначальное соглашение
a final agreement – окончательное соглашение
a long-term agreement – долгосрочное соглашение
a short-term agreement – краткосрочное соглашение
a unilateral agreement – одностороннее соглашение
a bilateral agreement – двустороннее соглашение
an intergovernmental agreement – межправительственно соглашение
a framework agreement – рамочное соглашение
a landmark agreement – ‘эпохальное’ соглашение
to seek an agreement – искать согласие
to reach (to come to) an agreement – прийти к соглашению
to sign an agreement – подписать соглашение
to conclude (strike) an agreement – заключить договор
to ratify an agreement – ратифицировать соглашение
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to implement an agreement – выполнять соглашение
to cancel an agreement – аннулировать соглашение
to carry out provisions of an agreement – выполнять положения договора
under an agreement – по соглашению, согласно договоренности
3. to enter into force (to go into effect)– входить в силу (начать
действовать)
4. to enter into a pact – заключить договор
5. to extend (to expand) – расширять
to extend ties (links) – расширять связи
an extension (spread) – расширение
extension of all-round cooperation – расширение всестороннего
сотрудничества
extensive – широкий
6. links (ties, contacts, relations) – связи
interstate links – межгосударственные связи
longstanding links – продолжительные отношения
to maintain vast links – поддерживать обширные связи
to revitalize (to revive, to renew, to refresh) ties – оживлять связи
to intensify links – усиливать связи
to cement ties – устанавливать прочную связь
7. to boost – способствовать росту, повышать, усиливать
a boost – быстрый рост, повышение
to give a boost to (to give an impetus) – давать толчок, послужить
стимулом, ускорять
8. an advantage (benefit) – выгода, преимущество
to seek advantage (over) – искать выгоду
to take advantage of – использовать что-либо в своих интересах
to one’s best advantage – наилучшим, самым выгодным образом
advantageous (beneficial) – выгодный
mutually advantageous terms – взаимовыгодные условия
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9. benefit (profit) – выгода, польза
common benefit – общая выгода
to yield considerable benefit – приносить огромную пользу
to benefit from – извлекать пользу из чего-либо
10. a move (a step, an action) – шаг, действие, поступок
a political move – политическая инициатива (ход, маневр)
to make a move – предпринять что-либо, начать действовать
11. to promote ( develop, foster) – продвигать, содействовать
to promote cooperation – развивать сотрудничество
to promote the relaxation of international tension – способствовать
ослаблению международной напряженности
12. to embrace (cover) fields (spheres) – охватывать области
13. to contribute to – способствовать чему-либо
14. to strengthen – укреплять
15. to deepen – углублять
16. to smooth (to ease, to lessen) – сглаживать, смягчать
17. to forge – вырабатывать, строить (отношения)
to forge a special relationship – устанавливать особые отношения
18. to be at an impasse – быть в тупике
19. rapprochement – сближение
20. to achieve a breakthrough – добиться прорыва
21. to iron out (bridge) differences – устранять противоречия
22. to rule out – исключить, вынести решение не делать

1. Agreements on extending trade and economic, industrial and technical
cooperation between Russia and Canada were signed last week during Russian
Foreign Minister’s stay in Ottawa. It was also agreed to resume talks on a
programme for exchanges in science, education and other areas.
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2. Russia has signed a protocol on completing bilateral talks with the
United Arab Emirates on its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO),
Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said on Sunday. ‘The agreement that has
been signed testifies to the parties’ intention to develop and strengthen bilateral
cooperation in the economic sphere within a multilateral trade system, contribute
to more intense mutual trade and closer friendly relations,’ Kudrin said after a
signing ceremony.
3. President George W. Bush looked into the eyes of Russia’s new
president, Dmitri Medvedev, on Monday and saw, he said, ‘a smart guy.’ The two
presidents spent more than an hour together here in their first face-to-face meeting
since Medvedev succeeded Vladimir Putin. Afterward, they said they had agreed
on the need for Iran and North Korea to abandon their nuclear ambitions, but did
not bridge their differences on Bush’s proposal to build a missile defense system in
Eastern Europe.
4. The United States and the Czech Republic on Tuesday signed an
initial agreement to begin basing part of a U.S. missile shield in the Czech
Republic. Earlier, Rice all but ruled out a stop in Poland this week, saying that the
United States had answered Polish demands for military hardware and the final
agreement rested with Polish authorities.
5. Poland’s top diplomats were in Washington on Monday in crisis talks
to seek agreement with the United States over terms for deploying part of the
Pentagon’s anti-ballistic missile shield on its territory. The talks took place a day
before Rice was to arrive in the Czech Republic for a landmark signing ceremony.
The Czech Foreign Ministry confirmed Monday that Washington and Prague
would sign a legal accord allowing the Pentagon to base its radar defense missile
system not far from the capital, Prague. That ceremony, analysts say, will complete
the Czech Republic’s goal of becoming integrated into the U.S. security and
strategic system.
6. The White House press secretary said Thursday that Bush hoped to
discuss with Medvedev areas where the two countries could ‘intensify cooperation
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in the months ahead, including on missile defense and Russia’s bid to join the
World Trade Organization. Bush also wants to learn more about the Russian
leader’s domestic priorities.”
7. Russia is in favor of the development of all-round cooperation with
Japan and other developed countries. Economic links are mutually beneficial, they
promote the relaxation of international tension and help build confidence between
the two countries.
8. Russia wants to trade and cooperate with Western countries, including
Britain. It doesn’t seek one-sided advantages. Of course, such trade benefits Russia
but it also benefits Western countries providing employment and often long-term
orders. Long-term economic agreements between countries create trust in each
other’s intentions. It is also true in a political sense as it promotes the development
of peaceful coexistence. So the improvement in British-Russian economic
cooperation is to be welcomed.
9. A landmark agreement was reached in Beijing that clears the way for
direct chartered flights to the island and back every weekend — and businessmen
keen on developing ties to the mainland are breathing easier. ‘The direct flights
would save us a whole work day when we travel,’ says Samuel Chiu, a Taiwan-
based business development manager at electronic instrumentation manufacturer
Agilent Technologies. ‘That’s the biggest cost benefit. Traveling to Shanghai will
only take two hours now.’
10. Russian–French cooperation has yielded considerable benefit to both
countries. Economic and scientific ties of Russia and France embrace today such
fields as space exploration, electronic computers, unique machinery and
equipment.
11. The USA and China yesterday signed an accord to smooth future trade
relations. The deal aims to foster cooperation in areas such as telecommunications,
chemicals, electric power, aviation, automotive machinery and services where
China needs help and in which American business excels.
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12. Plans to enter into a political and economic pact between the
European Union and the Mediterranean countries of North Africa and the Middle
East may fail on the issue of aid.
13. Russia and the United States will sign a long awaited civilian nuclear
cooperation pact on Tuesday that will allow firms from the world’s two biggest
atomic powers to expand bilateral nuclear trade significantly. The deal will be
signed in Moscow on the last full day of Vladimir Putin’s presidency. The deal
will open up the booming U.S. nuclear market and Russia’s vast uranium fields to
firms from both countries. Without a deal cooperation was severely limited and
required official consent.
14. Russia and the European Union (EU) will start talks on a new
Partnership and Cooperation Agreement in Brussels on July 4. This has become
possible owing to the joint efforts undertaken under the 1994 PCA, which expired
last year. The summit in Khanty-Mansiisk kicked off negotiations on a new
agreement. Some of these areas have already been mentioned in Moscow and
Brussels, for instance energy cooperation, science and technology, trade and
investment (after Russia’s WTO entry), and visa-free travel. Some specific
agreements may be drafted alongside the basic document, but on the whole a
package of such agreements is expected to be the next stage in the formation of a
new political and legal foundation for a Russia-EU strategic partnership.
15. Ending an 18-month impasse, European Union countries agreed
Wednesday to begin wide-ranging new negotiations with Russia, raising hopes that
an era of tension and confrontation with Moscow could give way to an improved
relationship.
16. In a rare diplomatic breakthrough in recent relations, the Bush
administration signed a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with Russia this
month. But that deal is facing stiff opposition from lawmakers, who argue that
Russia is not doing enough to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and
that now is not the time for cooperation with Putin’s Russia.
18
17. ‘We have agreed that there should be a joint strategic framework
document for the presidents to be able to record all of the elements of the U.S.-
Russian relationship as we go forward into the future,’ said Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice. She said negotiations had brought consensus on which parts of
the relationship would be in the document; the dozen or so policy issues include
trade, counter-terrorism and nuclear proliferation. Her counterpart, Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov, said the talks also covered ‘some contentious issues
where we have not reached agreement as of now,’ in particular missile defense and
the exact legal form of a future bilateral limit on nuclear weapons.
18. There are many reasons for the chill but none greater than the
regrettable wars both nations have launched: Russia’s in Chechnya and the U.S.’s
in Iraq. The wars have damaged prospects for what seemed attainable a decade and
a half ago: Russia and the U.S. genuinely engaged in collaboration based on shared
common values, spanning the old cold war dividing lines and thereby enhancing
global security and expanding the transatlantic community.
19. Russia and Britain have put their differences over Iraq behind them,
and are working together on key international issues. In a joint press conference on
the last day of Mr Putin’s state visit to Britain, the two leaders spoke of
increasingly close political and economic ties between the countries, underlined by
a landmark energy deal signed this morning that will see Britain become Russia’s
largest foreign investor.
20. In an interview with Sky News yesterday, Mr Brown said: “America
is our most important ally, it will always be because of the values we share with
America, and so it is central to how we conduct our foreign policy. The great
change that is taking place, that I think is to the advantage of everyone, is that
France and Germany and the EU are also moving more closely with America. And
I think that’s to the benefit of Britain, it’s to the benefit of the world.”
19
China and Taiwan’s Plane Diplomacy

For Taiwanese businesspeople living in China, trips home can be a full-day
slog. Despite the proximity of the island to the mainland, sensitive Taiwan/China
relations means there are virtually no direct flights. Travelers are forced to transit
an intermediate airport, usually the one in Hong Kong, adding hours to what ought
to be a relatively quick trip.
But since March, when Taiwanese elected Ma Ying-jeou as President,
China and Taiwan relations have been improving. Case in point: on June 13, a
landmark agreement was reached in Beijing that clears the way for direct chartered
flights to the island and back every weekend — and businessmen keen on
developing ties to the mainland are breathing easier. ‘The direct flights would save
us a whole work day when we travel,’ says Samuel Chiu, a Taiwan-based business
development manager at electronic instrumentation manufacturer Agilent
Technologies. ‘That’s the biggest cost benefit. Traveling to Shanghai will only
take two hours now.’
The agreement is significant to more than the convenience of the estimated 5
million Taiwanese who traveled to China last year, or to the 1 million who now
live and work on the mainland. It is expected to aid Taiwan’s economy and ease
tensions across the combustible Taiwan Strait, the 112 mile (180km) wide body of
water separating mainland China and Taiwan. The direct-flight deal was reached
by two semi-official bodies representing Beijing and Taipei in their touchy
diplomatic contacts: Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation and China’s
Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits. The two sides hadn’t met
since 1999, when Taiwan’s then-President Lee Teng-huis offended China by
referring to their relations as ‘state-to-state.’ China considers Taiwan to be a
breakaway territory and bristles at any reference to it as a sovereign government.
‘The resumption of talks is always encouraging,’ says Andrew Yang, head of the
20
Taipei-based Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies. ‘Now a brief encounter
between the two sides unveils a new historical chapter for cross-strait relations.’
Ma, who was elected by 58% of voters in March, made improved ties with
the mainland a key platform of his campaign. The direct flights agreement
represents the first major step his administration has taken to meeting that pledge.
The agreement is expected to give a modest boost to Taiwan’s economy.
More cross-strait tourism will boost annual GDP growth by 6% to 8%, according
to a report on tourism in Taiwan by Goldman Sachs. Benefits could extend beyond
the economy. China has threatened to invade Taiwan if it declares formal
independence and has installed hundreds of missiles along its southern coast near
Taiwan. The U.S. military, which could be drawn in to defend Taiwan in the event
of a conflict, consider the Taiwan Strait to be one of the most dangerous
flashpoints in Asia. Easing tensions will require more than a deal on tourism, Yang
says, but he notes that Friday’s agreement could help reduce provocative military
maneuvers. ‘Both China and Taiwan conduct training exercises in the Taiwan
Strait. To avoid miscalculation, to avoid accidents, those exercises have to be
constrained,’ he says. ‘Whether Beijing or Taiwan have a willingness to eliminate
exercises and training, that remains to be seen. But that would be conducive to
assurance of safety corridors for normal charter flights.’ When the skies between
the two sides are crowded with passenger aircraft, it’s that much harder to fill them
with missiles and fighter jets.
13/06 /2008, Time

1. What landmark agreement was reached by China and Taiwan? Where was
this agreement signed?
2. In what areas does the deal aim to foster cooperation between the two
parties?
3. Since what time have Chinese-Taiwanese relations been improving?
4. Why is this accord considered to be significant?
21
5. When and why did the relations between China and Taiwan deteriorate?
6. What other Taiwanese areas is the agreement expected to give a boost to?
5. Translate the following article into Russian using Active

Vocabulary:
Russia and U.S. to sign civilian nuclear pact

MOSCOW: Russia and the United States will sign a long awaited civilian
nuclear cooperation pact on Tuesday that will allow firms from the world’s two
biggest atomic powers to expand bilateral nuclear trade significantly. The deal will
be signed in Moscow on the last full day of Vladimir Putin’s presidency, a Russian
official said on condition his name was not used.
The deal will open up the booming U.S. nuclear market and Russia’s vast
uranium fields to firms from both countries. Without a deal cooperation was
severely limited and required official consent. ‘The potential value of this
agreement is the value of all the contracts which could be signed between the two
countries’ firms in the nuclear sphere, which is obviously billions of dollars,’ a
Russian source said.
At the 2006 Group of Eight summit in St Petersburg, U.S. President George
W. Bush and Putin asked their governments to move forward on the deal but it has
faced opposition from some U.S. congressmen because of Russia’s cooperation
with Iran. ‘It is symbolic that it will be signed on the last day of Vladimir Putin’s
presidential term,’ the Russian official said.
The Russian source said the deal would be signed by Sergei Kiriyenko,
chief of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, and U.S. Ambassador to
Russia William Burns, who is leaving Moscow to take up the No. 3 post in the
State Department. A 123 agreement, so-called because it falls under section 123 of
the Atomic Energy Act, is required before countries can cooperate on nuclear
materials. Some U.S. politicians have said nuclear cooperation with Russia should
22
be shunned because Russia is helping Iran build an atomic power station in Iran,
but the Bush administration is keen to have the pact approved this year.
Once the agreement is signed Bush will have to send it to Congress, which
has 90 days to act. If Congress does nothing, the agreement goes into effect. If
lawmakers want to block it, they must pass a resolution of disapproval. Russia’s
parliament, which is controlled by Putin’s party, must also ratify the Treaty.
Russia, one of the world’s biggest sellers of enrichment services, has been
trying to break into the prosperous nuclear markets of the United States and
European Union.
Tuesday’s deal creates a legal base that will allow companies to make
agreements themselves on trade in nuclear materials. ‘You cannot overestimate the
importance of this agreement because it opens up the giant north American market
for nuclear materials to Russian companies,’ Vladimir Yevseyev, a senior
researcher at the Moscow Centre For International Security.
Putin, who steps down on Wednesday, has reformed Russia’s nuclear sector
to boost competition and open it up to world atomic firms such as Japan’s Toshiba
Corp, which owns U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric. Russia has crafted a nuclear
behemoth called Atomenergoprom -- which officials say is an atomic version of
Russian gas giant Gazprom -- to compete with the biggest nuclear companies on
the world market. Competitors include the partnership between France’s Areva and
Germany’s Siemens AG; Japan’s Toshiba; and GE Hitachi, the nuclear venture of
General Electric and Japan’s Hitachi.
Russia has about 870,000 tonnes of uranium in reserves and more than 1
million tonnes if joint ventures abroad are included. That excludes a strategic
reserve of highly enriched uranium and plutonium whose size is a state secret.
Russia already sells to the United States only uranium from dismantled Russian
nuclear weapons under a programme known as megatons to megawatts. Sales are
made through USEC Inc.
23
1. What agreement is to be signed by Russia and the USA? Where and when
will it be signed?
2. What is the accord signed by the two parties aimed at?
3. Who will sign this agreement?
4. What is the potential value of this agreement?
5. In what case will this agreement go into effect?
6. What will this Tuesday’s deal allow Russian and American companies to
do?
7. Will this accord give a boost to competition among the biggest nuclear
companies on the world market?
EU and Russia agree to new series of wide-ranging talks

BRUSSELS: Ending an 18-month impasse, European Union countries
agreed Wednesday to begin wide-ranging new negotiations with Russia, raising
hopes that an era of tension and confrontation with Moscow could give way to an
improved relationship. The agreement among senior European diplomats paves
the way for the EU and Moscow to start negotiating their first broad cooperation
deal in more than a decade.
‘The new agreement we want to strike with Russia will shape Russian-EU
relations for the 21st century,’ said Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for the Javier
Solana, the EU foreign policy chief. ‘It will replace what we currently have in
place, which was the first agreement between the EU and Russia after the fall of
the Soviet Union.’
Coming at the start of the presidency of Dmitri Medvedev in Russia, the
negotiation will be a test of whether or not the relationship between Europe and
Moscow can improve after years of combative rhetoric from his predecessor,
Vladimir Putin, who remains a powerful force as prime minister. But negotiating
24
the so-called Partnership and Cooperation Agreement will also put pressure on the
unity of the EU, which has often failed to speak with a single voice to Moscow.
So sensitive are relations with Russia that the Europeans haggled for 18 months
before coming to this agreement, which sets out the mandate with which the
European Commission will conduct the talks with Moscow. This step was delayed
first by Poland, then by Lithuania, which cited concerns over energy security, the
disappearance of Lithuanian businessmen in Russia and unresolved conflicts
involving Georgia and Moldova.
Vilnius finally agreed to an EU mandate for the negotiations when an annex
committed the European side to raise the three issues. The pact negotiated by EU
ambassadors opens the way for EU foreign ministers to approve the mandate
formally at a meeting Monday and for negotiations to begin at the EU-Russia
summit meeting in the western Siberian region of Khanty-Mansiisk at the end of
June. A total of seven annexes to the main text were agreed to, including one that
binds the EU side to discussing the case of Alexandr Litvinenko, the former KGB
agent who was killed in London.
‘The important thing is that we have the agreement of all members to adopt
the mandate while problematic questions will still be a matter’ of the partnership
talks,’ The Foreign Minister of Slovenia said at a news conference in Ljubljana,
Reuters reported. The talks are expected to last at least a year and any agreement
will have to be ratified by all 27 EU member states, making it unlikely to enter into
force until 2011.
Energy concerns will dominate the negotiation and the mandate requires the
EU side to call for an agreement that would ‘enshrine the principles that would
result from the ratification of the energy charter by Russia.’ That would mean
forcing Russian energy monopolies to allow Western companies to use their
pipeline network to transit supplies through Russia, an idea vehemently rejected by
Moscow. Nevertheless, there was optimism that some form of agreement could be
reached in part because of growing economic interdependence.
25
According to Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Commission,
Russia is the EU’s third most important trading partner, after the United States and
China, accounting for 6.2 percent of EU exports and 10.4 percent of EU imports in
2006.
Thomas Gomart, director of the Russia Center at the French Institute of
International Relations, said that the timing was favorable because of the advent of
a new president in Russia. But he added that the negotiation would be more
difficult for the EU side than during the past agreement of this type in the 1990s,
when Russia was economically and politically weak.
‘In Russia. now there is political assertiveness and a real strategy toward the
EU, while there is no real EU strategy toward Russia,’ he said. Masha Lipman,
political analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said that, while Putin’s tough
rhetoric against the EU had been popular politically in Russia, it had not furthered
Russian economic interests in Europe. ‘Being a difficult partner may serve to get
over past humiliation but it doesn’t do anything to further its interests,’ she said.
‘Both sides have interests and both sides have potential benefits.’
Areas singled out for co-operation included science and technology
education and training, the customs area, crime, transport, energy and
telecommunications, environment and culture.
Since the agreement entered into force in late 1997, Russia’s economic ties
have grown significantly, as has its political and diplomatic weight. And in the
meantime, the EU has expanded to include countries that were once part of the
Warsaw Pact and which remain suspicious of Moscow.

1. What wide-ranging negotiations did Russia and the EU agree to start after
ending an 18-month impasse?
2. What is this agreement aimed at?
3. What has prevented the adoption of this agreement over the past 18 months?
26
4. Is the mandate of the agreement approved by all 27 EU member states?
5. When is the agreement expected to enter into force?
6. Does growing economic interdependence of countries accelerate the
negotiations on the adoption of the Cooperation and Partnership Agreement?
7. In what areas does the deal aim to foster cooperation Between Russia and
the EU?
9. Turn to current press material. Give short pieces of information on

cooperation between Russia and other countries in different fields.
27
UNIT III
CONFLICTS

1. a stance – позиция
a tough stance – жесткая позиция
an aggressive stance – агрессивная позиция
to stiffen one’s stance – ужесточить позицию
2. to stall – зайти в тупик
stalled negotiations – зашедшие в тупик переговоры
3. to sever ties – порвать отношения
severance of diplomatic relations – разрыв дипломатических отношений
4. a party to a dispute – сторона, участник конфликта
5. a standoff – противостояние, конфликт
6. to be at loggerheads – быть в ссоре, не в ладу с кем-то
7. to handle (tackle) a dispute – заниматься разбором спорного
вопроса
to settle (resolve) a dispute peacefully (through negotiations) – разрешить
спорный вопрос мирным путем (путем переговоров)
8. to constrain a conflict – сдерживать конфликт
9. to trigger a conflict – вызывать конфликт
to accuse of doing – обвинять кого-либо в чем-либо
10. sanctions (restrictions, an embargo, a ban) – меры воздействия,
санкции
to apply restrictions in (trade) – применять, использовать ограничения (в
торговле)
to violate embargo – нарушать эмбарго
to extend sanctions – продлить, распространить санкции
the extension of existing sanctions – продление существующих санкций
to back sanctions – поддерживать санкции
28
to drop (remove, lift, abandon ) sanctions – отменить (снять) ограничения
to impose sanctions – наложить (ввести) санкции
11. a hurdle – препятствие
to remove a hurdle – устранить препятствие
12. a deadlock (stalemate)– тупик
to break the deadlock – преодолеть тупик
13. to make concessions – делать уступки
to concede – уступать
14. to reach a consensus – прийти к согласию
15. to remove obstacles – устранить препятствия
16. to escalate (heighten) tensions – усиливать напряженность
17. to reduce (ease, lower) tensions – уменьшить, снизить
напряженность
18. differences – разногласия
to iron out differences – устранять противоречия
to smooth differences – сглаживать противоречия
to resolve (tackle) differences – разрешить разногласия
to overcome differences – преодолевать разногласия
19. to be on the verge of collapse – быть на грани срыва
20. to collapse (to breakdown) – провалиться (о переговорах)
a breakdown – провал
to fail – не удаваться, терпеть неудачу
21. to urge to do – призывать кого-либо сделать что-либо
22. to put strong pressure on – оказывать давление на кого-либо
23. reconciliation – примирение
24. to thaw – теплеть (об отношениях)
a thaw in relations – оттепель в отношениях
25. deadline – крайний срок
29
1. The clash of interests will come over the CIS countries in Eastern
Europe and the Southern Caucasus. In effect, the EU and Russia are competing for
economic and political influence in these regions. If that were not enough, they are
also divided on the domestic situation in Ukraine, Belarus, and Georgia, and hold
deeply opposing views on the best ways of settling the ‘frozen conflicts’ in
Transdnestr in Moldova, Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia, and Nagorny
Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
2. Seeking to force President Robert Mugabe into negotiations with the
opposition, the United States formally proposed UN Security Council sanctions on
Zimbabwe, including an international arms embargo and punitive measures against
the 14 people it deemed most responsible for undermining the presidential election
through violence.
3. Though Washington says it prefers a diplomatic resolution to the
standoff over Iran’s nuclear activity, the U.S. and Israel have not ruled out a
military option. Iran insists its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, such
as energy production. On Friday, Iran’s top Revolutionary Guards commander,
Gen. Mohammed Ali Jafari, said Iran would consider any military action against
its nuclear facilities as the beginning of a war.
4. And while the governments may be at loggerheads, the business
communities of Russia and the U.K. are closely entwined. “Russia still gets foreign
direct investment from the U.K. and there’s 400,000 Russians living in the U.K.,
and this is the Russian elite. The U.K. has an interest in them being here because
they bring in a lot of money, with all these Russian companies listed on the
London Stock Exchange.’
5. Today the international community’s deadline for the final attempt to
hammer out a negotiated solution to the problem of Kosovo’s future expired. The
international ‘troika’ overseeing talks between Kosovo Albanians, who want
independence from Belgrade as soon as possible, and Serbs, who are willing to
grant only a greater degree of autonomy, delivered their report on the talks’ failure
30
to the U.N. Security Council. The breakdown has raised fears of renewal of
violence in the region. But while tensions are indeed rising, there are sound
reasons why the worst-case scenarios — including new conflict in the Balkans —
probably will not be realized.
6. Amid increasing concern from the United States and the European
Union that tensions between Russia and Georgia could escalate into open conflict,
the Foreign Minister of Germany is seeking to mediate among all sides, traveling
to Georgia and its Russian-backed breakaway region of Abkhazia on Thursday,
then to Moscow on Friday. He said Germany’s equally close ties with Georgia and
Russia offered a chance of at least lowering tensions and getting all sides to talk.
7. The Secretary of State will sign the plan in Prague, but it faces some
hurdles. Talks with Poland have stalled over Warsaw’s demands for U.S. aid to
help modernize its army, and the Czech treaty will face opposition in Parliament.
8. In another sign of a step-by-step thaw in US-Iranian relations, The
Secretary of State has softened the US warning against Americans traveling to the
Islamic republic, a senior American official said.
9. The US yesterday imposed economic sanctions on Burma, banning
new investments by American companies in the military-ruled southeast Asian
country. The sanctions allow existing agreements to remain in place. The US is the
fourth largest foreign investor in Burma. The White House has been under pressure
from Congress to impose the sanctions and called for a ban on new investment.
10. Despite Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change
holding its first talks with representatives of President Robert Mugabe’s
government on Thursday, there’s no early end in sight to the country’s political
stalemate. The meeting in the South African capital, Tshwane (formerly Pretoria)
was aimed at pursuing a power-sharing agreement, to resolve the increasingly
violent deadlock that has followed the widely discredited June 27 runoff election
through which Mugabe claimed reelection following the withdrawal of the MDC’s
Morgan Tsvangirai amid a torrent of violence against his supporters. The talks
reflect mounting international pressure on both sides to achieve a compromise.
31
11. The most negative assessment of the impasse on missile defense
issues came from the Russian Defense Minister, who said, ‘In principle our
positions have not changed.’ The two sides also failed to reach a deal – but agreed
to continue talks – on what sort of pact might set limits on their nuclear arsenals
after current treaties expire.
12. Shared values and requirements of globalization will smooth
differences between Russia and the West, making them more accommodating in
regards to each other as well as in international affairs in general. In dealing with
the CIS countries, Moscow will respect more their sovereignty and their desire to
diversify foreign relations and will prefer to solve problems in a low-key
diplomatic manner rather than resorting to rhetoric and public polemics. Efforts
will be made to overcome differences with the West and work closer with it. The
Asia-Pacific region will also remain a focus of the Kremlin’s attention. Our
cooperation with China will intensify while relations with Japan will be moved
ahead.
13. The idea voiced by General Baluyevsky at the recent summit is aimed
at breaking the CFE deadlock. He suggested that Russia should be allowed to lift
restrictions on arms on its flanks – in the north and south of its European part. This
would allow it to freely move armed forces and hardware in this territory, and to
react promptly to emerging situations. Russia would not increase the strength of its
troops under this proposal.
14. Chavez, who just months ago called reconciliation impossible, said
the talks were aimed at a ‘relaunch of cooperation, peace and integration of Latin
America.’ ‘We have a need to take up the path again and reactivate relations. Now
that depends on many things,’ Chavez said.
15. The President of France, eager to realize his vision for harmony and
prosperity around the Mediterranean, has reached out to Syria, a nation often
accused of sponsoring terrorism and undermining regional unity.
16. Sarkozy asked Assad for help in easing the international standoff with
Iran over its nuclear program. Assad, in turn, asked France to contribute efforts
32
toward a peace deal between Syria and Israel. Sarkozy, whose country holds the
rotating European Union presidency, also called for reviving efforts toward an EU
deal with Syria that stalled in 2005.
17. After a more than three hour session at the Group of 8 summit
meeting here, leaders of African countries and industrialized nations could not
reach a consensus on how to move forward. President George W. Bush and other
Western leaders urged the international community to condemn Mugabe and back
strong sanctions against Zimbabwe, but the leaders of the seven African nations
who were also in attendance resisted growing pressure to adopt a tougher stance.
18. The Foreign Secretary said today Russia and China’s decision to block
international sanctions against Zimbabwe was ‘incomprehensible’ and confirmed
Britain would continue to fight to end suffering at the hands of Robert Mugabe. A
draft resolution, drawn up with the United States, that went before the UN Security
Council, called for travel bans on the dictator and 13 other leading members of his
regime and a freeze on their overseas assets. It also proposed an arms embargo and
the appointment of a special envoy to help with the creation of a new government.
But the move was scuppered by Russia and China’s veto. Russia’s UN
ambassador, said the sanctions went beyond its mandate to deal with threats to
international peace and security.
19. North Korea rejected a proposal to resume stalled reconciliation talks
with South Korea, while Seoul denounced the communist regime Sunday for the
shooting death of a tourist that heightened tension between the divided nations.
20. The South Korean government has been battered by weeks of protests
against Lee’s decision to lift an import ban on U.S. beef. Last week, a South
Korean tourist was shot and killed by the North Korean military at a tourist resort
in the North, and Pyongyang scoffed at Lee’s offer of dialogue to reverse the
deepening chill in inter-Korean relations.
21. The new Russian President met the British Prime Minister for the first
time today as the two leaders attempted to thaw relations after a period of
diplomatic hostility. Relations between Britain and Russia has been strained over
33
the past two years. At last year’s G8 summit Tony Blair is believed to have
become embroiled in angry exchanges with Vladimir Putin, Mr Medvedev’s
predecessor.

Vocabulary:
Venezuela, Colombia hold talks to repair ties

PARAGUANA, Venezuela (AP) – Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and
Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe took a stab at mending relations Friday after months of
sniping that threatened billions of dollars in trade and unleashed a diplomatic crisis
between Latin America’s top U.S. opponent and closest U.S. ally. Chavez, who
just months ago called reconciliation impossible, said the talks were aimed at a
‘relaunch of cooperation, peace and integration of Latin America.’ ‘We have a
need to take up the path again and reactivate relations. Now that depends on many
things,’ Chavez said, welcoming Uribe warmly before they began closed-door
talks at the Paraguana oil refining complex on the Caribbean coast. It was their first
one-on-one meeting since August.
Analysts said the two are setting aside their on-and-off feud because each
benefits politically from normalized relations. The countries are key commercial
partners, with $6 billion in trade last year, and the leaders were expected to sign
accords to link the Andean neighbors with two new railways. Chavez also has
reiterated his willingness to help negotiate the release of hundreds of hostages still
being held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, rebels. For
both presidents, ‘the interest right now is to lower the level of confrontation and
strengthen relations in common areas, especially the economy,’ said analyst Sadio
Garavini, a former Venezuelan diplomat.
Relations sank to their lowest point in decades in March after Colombia
attacked a rebel camp in Ecuador. Chavez responded by briefly dispatching troops
to Venezuela’s border with Colombia, pulling his ambassador and threatening to
34
cut back trade. He later restored relations, something Ecuador’s leftist government
hasn’t done. During a feud over Chavez’s mediation role with Colombian rebels,
the Venezuelan president called Uribe a ‘pawn of the U.S. empire’ and likened him
to a mafia boss. ‘A man like that doesn’t deserve to be the president of a country –
coward, liar!’ Chavez said.
Colombia, meanwhile, accused Chavez of offering an open-ended loan of at
least $250 million to the FARC – charges bolstered by documents that Uribe’s
government said were retrieved from a laptop at the bombed guerrilla camp.
Bogota officials also said Venezuela has long harbored several rebel leaders.
Chavez denied the accusation, and Colombia’s ambassador to Caracas, Fernando
Marin, said the laptop documents are not on Friday’s agenda.
In Colombia on Friday, the FARC issued a statement condemning what it
called the ‘betrayal’ of two guerrillas who had been responsible for the 15 hostages
freed by Colombian soldiers in a bold rescue mission this month. The FARC said it
remained open to trading other hostages for imprisoned guerrillas.
Chavez made reconciliation easier for Uribe when he called on the FARC
last month to disarm and give up its hostages – after previously urging world
leaders to consider the group a legitimate army of insurgents. Through Chavez’s
mediation, the guerrillas freed six hostages earlier this year. But the FARC said
subsequently that it was finished with unilateral releases. Then Colombia’s
military rescued the 15 rebel-held hostages last week – reducing Chavez’s profile
while pushing Uribe’s already immense popularity to new highs.
‘Uribe is strengthened internationally,’ while ‘Chavez has realized he was
riding the losing horse’ and has expediently adjusted his stance toward Colombia,
said Rafael Nieto, a Colombian analyst and former deputy justice minister.
Chavez is looking to shore up his political support ahead of state and local
elections in November, and maintaining a conflict with Colombia could be
unpopular among Venezuelans. Uribe has his own political imperative for
smoothing over tensions: trade.
11/07/2008, CNN
35
1. What were the talks held by Venezuela’s and Colombia’s leaders aimed at?
2. What political benefits will each party to a conflict get from normalized
relations?
3. What economic advantages do Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Colombia’s
Alvaro Uribe seek from restoration of relations between their countries?
4. When did the relations between Venezuela and Colombia sink to their
lowest point?
5. What did the political leaders of both countries accuse each other of?
6. What was a turning point in the conflict between the two parties?
7. What are Venezuela’s and Colombia’s leaders’ reasons for changing
aggressive and tough stances and smoothing over tensions between their countries?

Vocabulary:
Gordon Brown in G8 meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev

Dmitri Medvedev, the new Russian President, met Gordon Brown for the
first time today as the two leaders attempted to thaw relations after a period of
diplomatic hostility. Relations between Britain and Russia have been strained over
the past two years. At last year’s G8 summit Tony Blair is believed to have
become embroiled in angry exchanges with Vladimir Putin, Mr Medvedev’s
predecessor. Mr Medvedev attended this year’s conference, at Lake Toya on the
Japanese island of Hokkaido, without Mr Putin, but there are suspicions that the
former President is pulling strings behind the scenes.
Speaking at the start of the 45-minute meeting this morning — one of four
meetings with Western leaders — Mr Medvedev said that the relationship between
Russia and Britain had ‘enormous potential’.
‘This reveals the enormous potential our relationship enjoys, even with
certain problems faced there, and this is a good chance to discuss the potential of
36
development with respect to the economy and trade and humanitarian issues,’ the
Russian leader said, speaking through interpreters.
During the meeting, Mr Brown is believed to have raised Russia’s refusal to
extradite the former KGB officer Andrei Lugovoy, the chief suspect in the London
poisoning of the dissident Alexander Litvinenko. It was this incident that caused
the rift between Russia and Britain that culminated in last year’s tit-for-tat
expulsions of diplomats. Further tension has been stoked by the treatment of the
British Council in Russia, with numerous employees arrested and the council’s
operations hampered, as well as a dispute with the oil giant BP over its operations
in Russia.
‘International relations always require people to come towards each other.
The Prime Minister hopes his bilateral meeting with Mr Medvedev will be a
constructive discussion on a wide range of issues,’ a British official said.
In what represented the biggest round of diplomacy since he took power,
Mr Medvedev held separate talks with President Bush, Angela Merkel, the German
Chancellor, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President. After the meeting with Mr
Bush, a senior aide to Mr Medvedev said that the talks had been ‘constructive’.
However, he added that the United States had failed to ease Russia’s concerns
about its plans for a Europe-based missile shield.
‘There is no real progress,’ Sergei Prikhodko, said. He added that Mr
Medvedev warned Mr Bush that deploying interceptor missiles for the system in
the former Soviet republic of Lithuania ‘would be absolutely unacceptable for the
Russian Federation’.
Mr Prikhodko said that the talks were ‘exclusively well-intentioned,
constructive and open, but at times critical.’ He said that Mr Medvedev believes
‘the overall balance of Russian-American relations is without a doubt positive’.
Elsewhere at the G8 summit this morning, leaders were locked in tense
negotiations over the future of aid to Africa, as Britain and Japan resisted efforts by
France and Italy to water down historic promises made at the 2005 Gleneagles
summit to double development in the world’s poorest continent.
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The pressure to water down the proposals comes from Nicolas Sarkozy, the
French President, and Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi, who both face pressure to
trim their domestic spending. It is opposed by Mr Brown and by the Japanese
Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda.
07/07/2008, Time

1. Where did the Russian President and the British Prime Minister attempt to
thaw their diplomatic relations?
2. How long have the Russian and British political leaders been at
loggerheads?
3. What incidents caused a rift and led to strained diplomatic relations between
the two countries?
4. How did the Russian President characterize the Russian-British relations?
5. Why are the normalized diplomatic relations beneficial for both parties?
6. What other political leaders did the Russian President hold separate talks
with?
7. What contentious issue was discussed by the Russian and American
Presidents? Was any consensus reached by them?
8. What disputable negotiations were the G8 leaders locked in at that summit

Vocabulary:
South Korea offers talks with North
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – North Korea rejected a proposal to resume
stalled reconciliation talks with South Korea, while Seoul denounced the
communist regime Sunday for the shooting death of a tourist that heightened
tension between the divided nations.
North Korea’s main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said in a commentary that
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s proposal to restart bilateral talks was not
38
even worth considering. It called Lee’s proposal a ‘deceitful’ tactic to avoid taking
responsibility for strained ties.
The snub was another sign of strained relations between the Koreas, which
intensified after a North Korean soldier fatally shot a South Korean tourist Friday
at a northern mountain resort.
South Korea has criticized the North for killing an innocent civilian,
demanding that investigators from the South be allowed to probe the case. ‘If an
investigation into this tragic incident is not made, that will throw a cold blanket
over all the people’s expectations for progress in South-North relations,’ South
Korea’s Unification Ministry said in a statement. The ministry is responsible for
ties with North Korea.
The South Korean government suspended tours to the resort pending an
inquiry. However, the North has refused to cooperate in any investigation, saying
the 53-year-old housewife ignored a soldier’s warning and tried to flee. The
North’s tourism authorities demanded South Korea apologize for halting tours.
Unification Minister Kim Ho-nyeon said Sunday that there were many
unanswered questions about the shooting, such as how the middle-aged victim was
able to cover a distance of 2 miles (3.3 kilometers) within 20 minutes walking on a
beach. All 350 South Korean tourists at the resort returned home Sunday
afternoon, according to Hyundai Asan, the tour company. Still, some 1,300
officials and shopkeepers remained in the tourist enclave because it was unclear
how long the tour will be suspended, said Hyundai Asan spokeswoman Jang
Young-ran.
Tensions between the Koreas have flared since Lee, a pro-U.S.
conservative, took office in February. His government has criticized human rights
abuses in North Korea and has been skeptical of offering unconditional aid to the
impoverished country, a sharp departure from the previous decade of liberal South
Korean leaders. Lee, however, said in a speech to parliament Friday that his
government was willing to consult on how to implement accords that his
predecessors reached with communist leader Kim Jong II at summits in 2000 and
39
2007. Lee had earlier said he would review the accords to determine whether they
are worth implementing. The North countered Sunday that no more talks were
necessary to carry out the summit agreements. Lee ‘is attempting to avoid taking
responsibility for worsened North-South relations and mislead public opinion to
resolve a crisis with deceitful remarks,’ it said. ‘With that shallow-minded tactic,
he cannot hide his ugly identity as an anti-unification, fratricidal confrontational
person and (his remarks) will only prompt rising national fury and disillusion.’
Lee’s office said it had no immediate plans to respond to the North’s
comments.
09/06/2008, CNN

1. What proposal was rejected by the government of North Korea?
2. What was reported by North Korea’s main newspaper about South Korean
President’s proposal to restart bilateral talks between the two parties?
3. What incident intensified strained relations between the Koreas?
4. What was North Korea accused of by South Korea?
5. What did the South Korean government suspend after North Korea had
refused to cooperate in any investigation of that case?
6. Since when and why have tensions between the Koreas escalated?
7. Were South Korea and North Korea ready to make concessions in order to
ease tensions existing between them and reach a consensus on disputable issues?
9. Turn to current press material. Find an article on the topic

“Conflicts” in a current Russian newspaper and render it into English using
Active Vocabulary. Prepare questions on the article for discussion.
40
UNIT IV
MILITARY ACTIVITIES, HOSTILITIES, TERRORISM

1. rival (adversary, enemy, foe) – соперник, противник, конкурент
rival – конкурирующий
rivalry – соперничество, противостояние, конкуренция
2. ally – союзник
to ally with – вступать в союз с
alliance – союз
3. armed forces – вооруженные силы
4. conventional forces – силы общего назначения
5. arms race – гонка вооружений
6. strategic arms cuts – сокращение стратегического вооружения
7. disarmament – разоружение
8. weapon – оружие
conventional weapon – обычное оружие
nuclear weapon – ядерное оружие
NBC (Nuclear, Bacteriological and Chemical) weapons – ядерное,
бактериологическое и химическое оружие
WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) – оружие массового поражения
offensive and defensive advanced weaponry – современное
наступательное и оборонительное вооружение
proliferation of weapons – распространение оружия
acquisition of weapons – приобретение оружия
unauthorized use of nuclear weapons – несанкционированное применение
ядерного оружия
9. nuclear warheads – ядерные боеголовки
10. uranium enrichment programme – программа по обогащению урана
41
11. to test nuclear weapons (to conduct a nuclear-weapon test) –
проводить испытания ядерного оружия
12. to halt tests – останавливать испытания
13. to ban (prohibit) the use of nuclear weapons – запретить
использование ядерного оружия
14. an abolition – упразднение, отмена, ликвидация, уничтожение
abolition of nuclear weapons – ликвидация, уничтожение ядерного
оружия
to abolish (to annihilate) – упразднять, уничтожать
15. the nuclear-weapon states (powers)– государства, обладающие
ядерным оружием
16. “rouge” states – государства-изгои
17. transfer of armaments – поставка оружия
18. a supplying country – страна-поставщик
a recipient country – страна-получатель
19. missile – ракета
a cruise missile – крылатая ракета
a ballistic missile – баллистическая ракета
interceptor missiles – ракеты-перехватчики
20. antiballistic missile defence – противоракетная оборона (ПРО)
antiballistic missile defence system (shield) – система противоракетной
обороны
to build, place (establish, station), install an antiballistic missile defence
system (shield)– построить, разместить, установить систему противоракетной
обороны
ABM Treaty – Договор по ПРО
21. a launch site – площадка для запуска ракет
22. to deploy – развертывать, применять, приводить в действие
deployment – размещение, развертывание
to deploy missiles – развертывать ракеты
42
to install missiles – устанавливать ракеты
23. war – война
full-scale war – полномасштабная война
all-out war – всеобщая война
civil war – гражданская война
on the brink of war – на гране войны
to wage the war – вести войну
warring parties – воюющие стороны
prisoners of war – военнопленные
24. to launch an attack – подвергнуть нападению
25. to pose a threat to – представлять угрозу
26. to jeopardize (endanger) – подвергать риску
27. to deter and defend against any threat of aggression – сдерживать и
защищаться от любой угрозы агрессии
28. to fight (struggle) against – бороться против \ c
to fight for – бороться за
29. fighting – бои
30. hostilities – боевые действия
cessation of hostilities – прекращение боевых действий
ceasefire – прекращение огня
31. violence – насилие
an outbreak of violence – вспышка насилия
32. atrocities – зверства
33. massacres – массовые истребления (людей)
34. bloodshed – кровопролитие
35. military takeover – захват власти военными
36. civilian casualties (losses) – потери (гибели) среди мирного
населения
37. the injured (the wounded) – раненные
38. a refugee – беженец
43
39. to flee (fled, fled) – покидать дома
40. truce – перемирие
41. a terrorist act – террористический акт
42. a terror group (cell) – террористическая группа (ячейка)
43. a militant – боевик
44. a suicide bomber – террорист-смертник
a suicide bombing – атака террориста смертника
45. a perpetrator of a terrorist attack – исполнитель террористической
атаки
46. a blast (explosion) – взрыв
47. to claim responsibility for – взять на себя ответственность за
48. hostage-taking – захват заложников

1) Without a new multilateral effort, the risk of a new nuclear arms race
and of rogue states and terrorist organizations getting their hands on nuclear
material could bring the world back to the brink of nuclear war.
2) Nuclear disarmament is one of the most important issues of our time.
As long as the United States and Russia between them have more than 11,000
nuclear warheads deployed, they have little credibility to persuade unrecognized
nuclear weapons states like Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea to scrap their
arsenals, and perhaps even less to get Iran to trade in its enrichment program for
any form of economic or other incentives.
3) Under Article 6 of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the five
declared nuclear powers on the United Nations Security Council are committed to
phasing out their arsenals.
4) Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov criticized U.S. plans for a missile
defense system with element in Eastern Europe to protect against the threat posed
by Iran, saying the system “has little in common with its declared goal.” Instead,
44
he said, it is the “advancement of the strategic structure of the American system in
Eastern Europe.”
5) The U.S. plan would install a radar base in the Czech Republic and 10
interceptor missiles in Poland — both former Soviet satellites that are now NATO
members. It is part of a wider missile shield involving defenses in California and
Alaska which the United States says are to defend against any long-range missile
attack from countries such as North Korea or Iran.
Russia strongly opposes the idea, saying Iran is decades away from
developing missile technology that could threaten Europe or North America, and it
says the U.S. bases will undermine Russia’s own missile deterrent force.
6) Russia threatened to deploy rockets in the European Union’s backyard
yesterday in retaliation for American plans to install a missile defence shield. The
US wants to place ten interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar station in the
Czech Republic to counter possible rocket attacks from “rogue states” such as Iran.
Russia has denounced the plan as a threat to its own security.
7) The last time the leaders met, when Mr Blair was on a state visit to
Moscow in April, Mr Putin rebuffed his attempts at reconciliation by refusing to
lift UN sanctions and mocking the possibility that weapons of mass destruction
existed in Iraq.
8) Tehran’s test launches of medium-range ballistic missiles last week
were seen in Washington as provocative and poorly judged, but both the Pentagon
and the CIA concluded that they did not represent an immediate threat of attack
against Israeli or US targets.
9) Iran has repeatedly insisted it will not give up enrichment, but it had
said the incentives package had some ‘common ground’ with Tehran’s own
proposals for a resolution to the standoff. Oil-rich Iran insists its enrichment work
is intended to produce fuel for nuclear reactors that would generate electricity. The
six nations — the U.S., China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany — first
offered a package of economic, technological and political incentives to Tehran
nearly two years ago on condition that it suspend enrichment.The standoff has led
45
to increasingly tense exchanges about the possibility of a military strike by Israel
or the U.S. An Israeli military exercise last month was seen as a warning to Iran.
10) The United States Friday called upon Macedonia’s Slavs and ethnic
Albanians to ‘cease fighting and focus on a political solution’ to the violent
conflict between Albanian extremists and government forces.
11) Monitoring the situation in Sderot, Israeli Foreign Ministry
spokesman expressed cautious optimism.’We hope the truce will be kept by all
parties. Yesterday, that barrage of 30 Qassams ... just before the cease-fire went
into force shows that they decided to kill as many Israelis as possible before the
cease-fire.’ There were no casualties as a result of the rocket strikes. Just an hour
before the truce went into effect, an Israeli airstrike aimed at militants near the El
Brag camp in the middle of Gaza killed one and injured three, Palestinian security
and hospital sources said.
12) By agreeing to deal with Hamas through Egyptian mediators, Israel
appears to be bending its policy of refusing to deal with Hamas, which does not
recognize Israel and refuses to renounce terrorism. Several Israeli newspapers were
critical of the cease-fire, saying it amounted to a political victory for Hamas.
Shiron dismissed that assessment. “We have not dealt with Hamas, we spoke to the
Egyptians,’ the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said. ‘The idea is to prevent
bloodshed, and prevent Israeli citizens and Palestinians alike from getting hurt.
And if this can be achieved, then I think this is good for everybody.’
13) Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a crowd of army recruits
in the city of Baqouba on Tuesday, killing at least 28 people, Iraqi police said. At
least 47 recruits were injured in the blast at the Saad military camp in Baqouba, the
official said. The U.S. military confirmed the attack, saying it occurred around 8
a.m. on July 15, 2008.
14) The US launched a military air strike in Somalia to go after a group of
terrorist suspects, defence officials said today. Somali police said three missiles hit
a Somali town held by Islamic extremists, destroying a home and seriously
injuring eight people early today.
46
15) Germany said yesterday it had arrested three Islamic militants
suspected of planning ‘imminent’ and ‘massive’ bomb attacks on Frankfurt’s
international airport and a nearby US military base, preventing what would have
been the most devastating terrorist attack on an American target since 11
September 2001. Since the start of this year, Chancellor Merkel’s government has
repeatedly warned that Germany faces the real threat of a terror attack.
16) In 2001, Islamist attacks were still a novelty in the US and the UK
though not in France, which was one of the first European countries to recognize
the threat posed by political Islam. Now we are growing used not just to the
existence of an Islamist terror network in Britain, consisting both of young men
who were born here and others from Pakistan and the Middle East, but of the
inchoate rage which fuels it.
17) It was an attack everyone had warned was inevitable, a matter of time.
That did not make the moment any less dreadful, however, or the task of catching
the perpetrators any easier. By general consent the response of the emergency
services to the wave of bombings that shattered London’s Thursday morning rush
hour could scarcely have been better. There are also fears that any future attack
could involve attempts to detonate a ‘dirty’ bomb – one contaminated with nuclear
waste, which might not cause widespread casualties but could shut off a large area
of London, disrupting the life of the city far more than Thursday’s atrocity.
18) The major line of investigation is that the bombings were carried out
by an alliance of terrorists formed specifically for this operation, perhaps using the
name Secret Organisation Group of al-Qaida of Jihad Organisation in Europe, the
first to claim responsibility.
19) The second stage of the German plan would involve the return of up
to 250,000 Georgian refugees to Abkhazia. They fled in the early 1990s during the
Soviet Union’s breakup, which turned extremely violent in this part of its former
empire. This stage would be followed by a donors’ conference to finance the
reconstruction of infrastructure and housing and promote business contacts
between Georgia and Abkhazia.
47
20) After years of escalating tensions and bloodshed, the talk in the
Middle East is suddenly about talking. The shift is still relatively subtle, but hints
of a new approach in the waning months of the Bush administration are fueling
hopes of at least short-term stability for the first time since the invasion of Iraq in
2003.Much is happening, adding up not to any great diplomatic breakthrough, but
to a distinct change in direction. Syria is being welcomed out of isolation by
Europe and is holding indirect talks with Israel. Lebanon has formed a new
government. Israel has cut deals with Hamas (a cease-fire) and Hezbollah (a
prisoner exchange).
21) Unless Iran responds positively in the next two weeks, it can expect
more sanctions to be imposed by the United States and the European Union as
early as late August or September and may then be hit with a fourth sanctions
resolution at the U.N. Security Council, Rice said. The offer envisions a six-week
commitment from Iran to stop expanding uranium enrichment, during which time
no additional sanctions would be imposed. That is intended to create the
framework for formal negotiations that, it is hoped, will lead to a permanent halt of
enrichment.
Missile defense system hinders progress at Russia and U.S. talks

The United States and Russia announced Tuesday they had agreed to
negotiate a ‘strategic framework’ document that would formally put in writing the
basic elements of their relationship, but the two sides failed to end the deep
division over American plans to base missile defenses in Europe. Conciliation was
the tone set overall by the American secretaries of state and defense and by their
Russian counterparts at the end of two days of negotiations. Yet tangible results
remained elusive as both sides agreed mostly that it was important to keep talking
through the end of this administration and into the next, as President Vladimir
Putin of Russia leaves office, followed by President George W. Bush.
48
‘We have agreed that there should be a joint strategic framework document
for the presidents to be able to record all of the elements of the U.S.-Russian
relationship as we go forward into the future,’ said Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice. She said negotiations had brought consensus on which parts of the
relationship would be in the document; the dozen or so policy issues include trade,
counter-terrorism and nuclear proliferation.
Her counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, said the talks also
covered ‘some contentious issues where we have not reached agreement as of
now,’ in particular missile defense and the exact legal form of a future bilateral
limit on nuclear weapons. Lavrov acknowledged that Rice and Defense Secretary
Robert Gates had made a significant effort during the talks to ‘try to allay our
concerns’ over American plans to place a tracking radar in the Czech Republic and
10 missile interceptors in Poland. The Americans have said the system is designed
to thwart missile attacks launched from Iran. Russia has argued that the system
could threaten its own missiles as well. Gates said the system would not be any
threat to the Russian arsenal. ‘We had the opportunity today to elaborate on a
number of confidence-building measures and measures for transparency, to
provide assurance to the Russians that our missile sites and radars do not constitute
a threat to Russia,’ Gates said. Among the offers, he explained, was one to allow
Russian inspectors into American missile defense sites, though that also would
require approval from the Czech and Polish governments. ‘I think both President
Putin and our Russian colleagues today found these ideas useful and important,’
Gates said. ‘They will be studying them further.’
A senior American official, speaking on traditional diplomatic ground rules
of anonymity to describe the closed-door negotiations, said the Russian
government had come to the realization that the United States had no intention of
dropping its plans for missile defense bases in Eastern Europe. ‘The Russians are
beginning to see that this is going to happen,’ the official said. The question facing
the Russian government now, the official said, was how to respond in a way that
49
does not immediately and publicly validate the American position while striving to
defend principles of Moscow’s foreign and military policy.
Acknowledging that some of the Bush administration’s proposals on missile
defense had not been clearly stated or perhaps had been misunderstood by the
Russians, senior American officials agreed to work through Tuesday night putting
the entire set of ideas into writing for study by Moscow. That effort is in part a
repeat of what was done when Rice and Gates visited Moscow last October to
discuss missile defense. The most negative assessment of the impasse on missile
defense issues came from Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, who said, ‘In
principle our positions have not changed.’
The two sides also failed to reach a deal – but agreed to continue talks – on
what sort of pact might set limits on their nuclear arsenals after current treaties
expire.
By working to wrap the more contentious bilateral issues into an official
strategic framework document that includes areas of cooperation, the United States
hopes to highlight and preserve areas of progress after months of caustic words
from the Kremlin over missile defense.
The goal, according to the senior administration official, is that ‘this
document would be an element of stability as both countries look ahead to new
leadership through a transition year in Russia and in anticipation of presidential
transition in the United States.’
18/03/2008, Time
1. What exact officials participated in the negotiations?
2. Did both sides find complete agreement on all the questions?
3. What did Condoleezza Rice state as the main result of the negotiations?
4. What are the concerns of Russia, according to S. Lavrov, that have been
given attention to and efforts to smooth during the negations?
5. What are the USA’s counter arguments for having their missile sites and
radars in the Czech Republic and Poland?
50
6. What is Russia beginning to realize, according to an anonymous source
among senior American officials?
7. Why did the senior American officials agree to work through Tuesday night?
8. What was another issue of the discussion that ended up in a failure?
9. Does the comment given at the end of the article imply a generally positive
or negative attitude of the author to Russia?
U.S. and Czech Republic to sign missile shield accord

PRAGUE: The Czech Republic will sign a treaty Tuesday to build a U.S.
missile defense radar system on Czech soil despite opposition at home and in
Russia.
Washington wants to build the radar southwest of Prague and put 10
interceptor rockets in Poland as a part of a defense shield that it says will protect
the United States and European allies from ‘rogue states’ such as Iran.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will sign the plan in Prague, but it
faces some hurdles. Talks with Poland have stalled over Warsaw’s demands for
U.S. aid to help modernize its army, and the Czech treaty will face opposition in
Parliament.
But the Czech government said the shield would offer protection along with
the country’s NATO and European Union membership. ‘Missile technology is
spreading around the world,’ Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said in an
interview. ‘The threat is not totally acute, but one has to prepare in time.’
Analysts say that bases in the former Soviet bloc would raise U.S. security
interest in the region at a time when Russia grows more assertive about its role on
the global scene. Russia regards the missile shield as a threat to itself. ‘While
Washington’s concerns about Iran are real, it’s also true that in setting up these
missile defense components, the United States will have a direct stake in the
51
security of central and eastern Europe,’ said Alexander Kliment, an analyst at
Eurasia Group, a U.S. political risk consultancy.
Disputes over the radar have alienated many Czechs, wary of any foreign
military presence after the Soviet invasion in 1968 and the following two decades
of occupation.
An opinion poll last month showed 68 percent of Czechs were against the
shield, while 24 percent supported it. Anti-radar activists say the radar will make
the Czech Republic a target and undermine its security. The leftist opposition in
Parliament has channeled the public discontent, and ratification is uncertain. The
three-party cabinet has just 100 seats in the 200-seat lower house and several
backbenchers have said they would vote against. The government must win over
several independents. The Green Party, a junior government partner, says
ratification should be delayed until a new U.S. administration takes over.
Unlike the Czechs, Poland has demanded billions of dollars for the
modernization of its army, mainly air defenses. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said
Friday that U.S. proposals were insufficient but that Poland was ready to negotiate
further.
General Henry Obering, head of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency,
has said that U.S. intelligence suggests that by 2015, Iran could follow North
Korea’s example and develop a long-range missile capable of striking the United
Sates. The United States brought an anti-missile umbrella, based in Alaska and
California, on line in 2004 to protect against the perceived North Korean threat.
The Czech and Polish sites would augment that system.
The proposed $3.5 billion system would use technology in which an array
of sensors and radar would detect an enemy missile in flight and guide a ground-
based interceptor to destroy it. If approved, construction on both sites could begin
in 2009, and could begin functioning in 2011 to 2013.
52
1. What agreement is to be signed by the Czech Republic and the USA?
2. Why does the USA want to build to an antiballistic missile defence shield in
the Czech Republic and install 10 interceptor missiles in Poland?
3. What is the accord signed by the Czech Republic and the USA aimed at?
4. Who will sign this agreement?
5. What is the attitude of the Russian authorities towards this plan? Why?
6. What did an opinion poll held in the Czech Republic show?
7. When is the plan to come into effect?
Three conflicts, two mind-sets, one solution

PARIS: Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine
Behind the fighting in Lebanon, as in Palestine and Iraq, there is a
fundamental conflict of views. America sees each as a clash between freedom and
terrorism, while the Arabs think in terms of freedom versus military occupation
and unjust wars. Unless the two opposing approaches are reconciled politically and
diplomatically, the Middle East will sink into perpetual war and chaos.
The Bush administration charges Islamist fundamentalists and their sponsors
in Tehran and Damascus with spreading an authoritarian ideology of hate against
the will of the Arab majority. Washington believes that there is an American-style
freedom-lover inside every Muslim, and that its mission is to drag it out by hook or
crook. After all, the cause of liberty in America, according to the new Bush
doctrine, is dependent on the cause of freedom abroad.
The Arabs, for their part, blame U.S. and Israeli wars and occupations for
turning citizens into freedom fighters and providing terrorist groups such as Al
Qaeda with fresh recruits and ideological alibis. They hold America and Israel
responsible for death, destruction and surging extremism, in pursuit of narrow
geopolitical interests rather than of universal values.
53
These opposing sets of beliefs come with corresponding myths and images.
The United States and its allies invoke 9/11, the Madrid bombings, the London
Underground attacks and hundreds of terrorist acts in between, while the Arabs
underline the invasions and occupations of 1967, 1982 and 2003; the Abu Ghraib,
Kheyam and Guantánamo detention centers, as well as hundreds of massacres,
from Der Yassin in 1948 to last month’s Qana bombing.
Under occupation, frustrated and angry people who see themselves as having
nothing to lose turn to acts of terrorism, which in turn are exploited by the
occupiers to justify continuing their domination. The fact that violent terrorist acts
perpetrated by resisting groups are illegal and criminal should not overshadow
their root cause – military occupations that cause mass suffering, humiliation and
hatred. Occupation provides a permanent state of provocation.
This link between occupation and terrorism points to the crucial difference
between the 9/11 attacks and the Middle East conflicts, which should not be held
hostage to Washington’s war on terrorism. An overwhelming majority of Arabs do
not recognize their religion in the image of Islam projected by Al Qaeda. And in
the region there is little identification with the Taliban, except in Pakistan and
Saudi Arabia.
If this fundamental conflict of views continues, so will asymmetrical wars in
Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq that produce no white flags, only more nationalistic
and religious extremism that deepens the fault lines between East and West.
Washington’s strategy of ‘constructive chaos’ – which is also Al Qaeda’s
and Tehran’s – needs to be seen against a backdrop of mounting religious
fundamentalism. In claiming to answer a higher calling, the likes of President
George W. Bush, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran are theologizing
what were colonial and imperial conflicts, recasting them in terms of jihad versus
crusade.
If the 20th century is any guide, it is evident who will be the eventual loser
in these conflagrations. America and its allies might possess far more advanced
54
and destructive firepower, but they are far less committed than their opponents and
far more prone to losing momentum.
Highly trained and highly equipped American, Israeli and British soldiers
strive to stay alive as they fight low-tech volunteer militants who are more than
ready to sacrifice themselves and die as martyrs. As America mourns its deaths,
resisting Islamist and secular groups celebrate theirs. Military interventions have
generated a huge reservoir of pent-up violence among Arabs, while hardly shaking
Palestinian, Iraqi and Lebanese resolve against foreign domination.
In short, time is not on the side of America and its allies. In the Middle East,
the continuing hardship of military occupation plays into the hands of religious
fundamentalists and discredits moderate democrats.
There is a solution available, however – not divine intervention, but a
measure that already exists. The West must apply to the whole region the basic
principles of UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for complete
withdrawal of foreign troops and the disarming of local groups. That means U.S.
and Israeli withdrawal from Iraq and Palestine as well as Lebanese and Syrian
lands, as a prelude to disarming of all armed groups and freeing prisoners there.
The only means of halting the cycle of violence and terrorism in the Middle
East, and paving the way toward real freedom, is to end military occupation.

1. What is the fundamental difference in political views between the USA and
such countries as Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine?
2. What is the aim of the USA’s policy towards the Middle East?
3. What does the Bush administration accuse Islamist fundamentalists and their
sponsors of?
4. What do the Arabs, for their part, blame US and Israeli military occupations
for?
5. What do US and Israeli military occupations in the Middle East trigger?
55
6. What link does there exist between military interventions and terrorism?
7. Will it heighten further tensions between East and West if this fundamental
conflict of views continues?
8. Why does the continuing hardship of military occupation play into the hands
of religious fundamentalists?
9. What is the only means of halting violence and terrorism in the Middle East
according to the author of the article? Do you share this point of view?
9. Turn to current press material. Find an article on the topic “Military

Activities, Hostilities, Terrorism” in a current Russian newspaper and render it
into English using Active Vocabulary. Prepare questions on the article for
discussion.
56
ПРИЛОЖЕНИЕ
THE ANALYSIS OF A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
Introduction
 The title of the article is
 The article under analysis / consideration / discussion / review is
 The article is entitled
 The author of the article is

 The article is published in
 The article is taken from
 The subject / topic / problem / current issue of the article is

 The problem was caused by / resulted from / was a result of
 The objective / main aim of the author is
 The article deals with / tackles / raises / bears on the problem of
 The article is devoted to
 The article provides ample food for thought for the readers
Main Body
The Author’s Technique
 The author looks at / takes a quick look at / explores / examines the
problem of
 The author informs the readers that / describes / characterizes / shows
/ illustrates / defines / portrays /discusses / demonstrates / introduces / analyses /
suggests / recommends
 The author foresees / predicts / claims / contends / admits / asserts /
criticizes / acknowledges
 The author brings to light / highlights / stresses / lays stress on / draws
the readers’ attention to / points out / puts emphasis on / emphasizes / focuses on /
comments on
Developing Arguments
 Sequencing
Firstly / First of all / Secondly / Thirdly / Then / Next / After that / Finally /
Eventually
 Addition
57
Furthermore / moreover / in addition to / to add to that / besides / what’s
more / apart from this
 Contrast
Nevertheless / however / despite this / in spite of / actually / in fact / on the
one hand …on the other hand / although / even though / whereas / at the same time
 Highlight
It’s essential / vital / extremely important to understand
Ultimately / basically / most importantly
In particular / especially / chiefly / mainly
If we look at the problem closely
What it exactly means is
 Cause and Effect
Because of / owing to / due to / for this reason
Therefore / as a result / hence / accordingly / consequently / as a
consequence / thus
Summarizing
 So to sum up / in brief / to cut it short
 If I can briefly summarize
 Before I finish let me just go over the main points of
Concluding
 In conclusion / Taking everything into account / On the whole / as it
was previously stated
 I’d like to finish by saying that
 To conclude I’d like to say that
 To reach one’s own conclusion
Expressing Opinion
 I’m convinced / I do think / I feel / I tend to think / I would suggest
My view is that / As I see it / It seems to me / In my opinion/view / It strikes
me that / I’m inclined to believe
 I totally / completely / absolutely agree with
I fully understand that / I’m in favor of / I support / I share the author’s
opinion / I see eye to eye with the author on this problem
The author is correct to point out
To a certain extent / up to a point I agree with …but
 I disagree with / I couldn’t agree to this / I don’t support the idea of / I
oppose to the author’s idea / I’m afraid that I can’t accept
58

Пособие СПП Часть 1

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

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Поделиться этим документом

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Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

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ПОСОБИЕ ПО ПЕРЕВОДУ

Учебно-методическое пособие представляет собой тематический

Перевод общественно-политических текстов

1. Active Vocabulary: words and word combinations

2. Translate into Russian using Active Vocabulary:

3. Translate the following headlines:

Russian delegation to hold security talks in Iran

5. Answer the questions:

6. Translate the following article into Russian using Active Vocabulary

Putin, still potent, comes to Paris

7. Answer the questions:

8. Turn to current press materials and find the information:

1. Active Vocabulary: words and word combinations:

2. Translate into Russian using Active Vocabulary:

China and Taiwan’s Plane Diplomacy

4. Answer the questions:

5. Translate the following article into Russian using Active

Russia and U.S. to sign civilian nuclear pact

7. Translate the following article into Russian using Active Vocabulary:

EU and Russia agree to new series of wide-ranging talks

8. Answer the questions:

9. Turn to current press material. Give short pieces of information on

1. Active Vocabulary: words and word combinations:

3. Translate the following article into Russian using Active

Venezuela, Colombia hold talks to repair ties

5. Translate the following article into Russian using Active

Gordon Brown in G8 meeting with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev

6. Answer the questions:

7. Translate the following article into Russian using Active

8. Answer the questions:

9. Turn to current press material. Find an article on the topic

1. Active Vocabulary: words and word combinations:

2. Translate into Russian using Active Vocabulary:

3. Translate the following article into Russian using Active Vocabulary:

Missile defense system hinders progress at Russia and U.S. talks

5. Translate the following article into Russian using Active Vocabulary:

U.S. and Czech Republic to sign missile shield accord

7. Translate the following article into Russian using Active Vocabulary:

Three conflicts, two mind-sets, one solution

8. Answer the questions:

9. Turn to current press material. Find an article on the topic “Military

THE ANALYSIS OF A NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

 The author of the article is

 The subject / topic / problem / current issue of the article is

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