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World and Press March 2 2022

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  • Queen
  • Nato
  • Putin
  • Ukraine
Original Pressetexte aus britischen und US-amerikanischen Medien Sprachtraining, Landeskunde, Vokabelhilfen und Übungsmaterial für Fortgeschrittene Sprachniveau B2 - C2

World and Press March 2

March 2 2022 • No 6 • 74th Year of Publication • Original Pressetexte aus britischen und US-amerikanischen Medien € 2,50 [d] Sprachtraining • Landeskunde • Vokabelhilfen • Übungsmaterial IN FOCUS B2–C2 • Opinion: Living to 180? No thanks, it sounds deadly | Photo: Picture Alliance Buckingham Palace has unveiled plans for throwing Queen Elizabeth II a big bash to celebrate her unprecedented 70 years on the throne. Read more on page 6 Neil Cole’s Museum of Classic Sci-Fi in the Northumberland village of Allendale holds costumes and props from numerous TV classics like ‘Doctor Who’, including a Dalek. Read more on page 12 | Photo: Getty Images • NATO: Fear of Russia brings new purpose and unity Pages 2/3 USA • Democracy: Western allies fear for health of US democracy • Native Americans: Indigenous coalition fights to rename town of Squaw Valley Pages 4/5 BRITAIN • Brexit: Shortages as delis are hit by new import rules • Digital currency: Britcoin ‘risk to stability of the banks’, says Lords Pages 7/10 OTHER TOPICS • India: Kerala backs gender-neutral uniforms • Business: Northeast dairy farmers under pressure • Renewable energy: Solar panels in a former coal county • Money: Maya Angelou to appear on quarter Die Nr.1 unter den Vokabeltrainern. Pages 9/11/13/14 Get the vocabulary trainer! www.phase6.de/wp/0622 Putin’s aim is to prove the West cannot win By Roger Boyes COMMENT • UKRAINE Some in his inner circle back the aggression, but others fear he has given too much away to China. Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and Chinese President Xi Jinping during their meeting in Beijing in February. | Photo: Getty Images 1 THE UKRAINIAN crisis has become an exercise in Western hopelessness. We stood by when the Warsaw Pact put down the Hungarian Uprising in 1956 and when Soviet tanks crushed the Prague Spring in 1968, and the West was so grateful that Moscow didn’t send its heavy metal into Poland in 1981 that it did little more than shrug as a military junta jailed thousands of Solidarity activists. 2 Again we’re reaching for the smelling salts. There was a naive hope that Vladimir Putin’s troop build-up, supposedly training exercises along Ukraine’s long borders, was harmless. That Putin was a late convert to the teachings of the ancient Chinese strategist Sun Tzu: “Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting.” 3 But day by day his mask slips a little more. That was clear when the military blood banks were erected for the troops, now at more than 200,000, most of them in full battle order, and clearer still at Monday’s cringeworthy spectacle of Putin pretending to seek advice from his Security Council. The plainly pre-scripted session was supposed not only to legitimise Russian recognition of the enclaves of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine but to accept Moscow’s sacred duty of protecting the inhabitants. Putin’s televised comments made plain that he doesn’t accept Ukraine’s existence as a sovereign state and accepts diplomacy only if it wins him territory. 4 This is not so much a Ukrainian crisis as it is a Putin crisis. He calculates that he can damage the Ukrainian economy more deeply and more quickly than Western aid can benefit the country. For him it’s a sure bet, a nihilistic one that will allow him to make a single point: that although the Soviet Union may have collapsed irrevocably, the West, with all its rules and smug principles, did not win the Cold War. 5 Are his confidants on board with this? One squawking set of hawks certainly argues that sanctions should strike no fear. Rather, Western sanctions could be a spur towards a desirable goal: socioeconomic autarky, deglobalisation of Russian elites, a more robust nationalism, a freeing of Russian genius rather than a copy-catting of Western trends. Many of these hardliners found a nest in the security services. Their ideological figurehead is Nikolai Patrushev, head of Putin’s Security Council and former KGB hand. Continued on page 12 Die Nr.1 unter den Vokabeltrainern. €2,80 [a] CHF4,50 [ch] 0 – 1 HOPELESSNESS Hoffnungslosigkeit — to stand by tatenlos zusehen — Warsaw Pact “"wO…sO…‘ Warschauer Pakt — Hungarian Uprising Ungarn- Aufstand — tank Panzer — to crush (fig) niederwalzen — Prague Spring Prager Frühling — heavy metal (fig) schweres Geschütz — to shrug mit den Achseln zucken — military junta “"hUnt´‘ Militärjunta — Solidarity h.: unabhängige Gewerkschaft Solidarność 2 smelling salts Riechsalz — troop build-up Truppenaufstockung — supposedly “s´"p´UzIdli‘ angeblich — late convert Spätbekehrte(r) — teachings Lehre — ultimate “"øltIm´t‘ ultimativ — excellence “"eks´l´ns‘ Überlegenheit 3 to slip verrutschen — blood bank Blutbank — to erect “-"-‘ errichten — battle order Gefechtsbefehl — cringeworthy “"krIndZÆw‰…Di‘ peinlich — to seek advice um Rat bitten — Security Council Sicherheitsrat — plainly offensichtlich — prescripted inszeniert — recognition “Ærek´g"nIS´n‘ Anerkennung — sacred “"seIkrId‘ heilig — sovereign “"sÅv´rIn‘ souverän 4 to calculate kalkulieren — aid Hilfe — to benefit s.th. etw. zugutekommen — bet Wette — irrevocably “I"rev´k´bli‘ unwiederbringlich — smug selbstgefällig 5 confidant “"kÅnfIdœnt‘ Vertraute(r) — to be on board with s.th. etw. zustimmen — to squawk “skwO…k‘ krächzen — hawk (fig) Falke — to strike no fear nicht einschüchtern — spur Ansporn — socioeconomic “Æs´Usi´UÆek´"nÅmIk‘ sozioökonomisch — copy-catting Nachahmung — figurehead (fig) Galionsfigur — hand Mitarbeiter(in)

World and Press