Английский язык для специальных и академических целей: Международные отношения и зарубежное регионоведение. Часть 1 - [44]
To conclude, frequent deaths of innocent people as a result of missile strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia breed resentment of the citizens of many countries regardless of their attitude to the USA in general. Islamic states are the most critical as they perceive such methods inhibiting extremism as an aggression against Islam. Except for the closest allies of the USA, only China and India seem to be more or less justifying the strikes; it is possible to speculate
that as these countries view Islamic extremism and terrorism as one of the greatest threats to international peace and security they consider such ‘strict measures' to be indispensable.
Unit II. US: from Democracy to Empire?
According to the findings, it is evident that an overwhelming majority of people in different countries across the globe appear to disapprove of the US drone strikes against extremists. Even in the USA the population is divided over the issue; the biggest support, understandably, comes from Israel. Not surprisingly, the strongest opposition is found in the Middle East, though little support is also characteristic of many Latin American countries, Greece and Spain, which are not directly involved in this fight against terrorists. On the whole it is clear the USA doesn't enjoy universal support on that issue.
A survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research International from March 17 to June 5, 2014 among 48,643 people from 44 countries. The survey has been conducted by the means of telephone and face-to-face interviews of people older than 18. The participants are asked whether they approve or disapprove of the USA conducting missile strikes from pilotless aircraft to fight terrorists. The figures are divided into sections which show answers received in different groups of countries: the first group represents the USA and European countries, the second deals with the countries of the Middle East, the third and the fourth are dedicated to Asian and Latin and Central American countries, respectively.
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THE ROAD MAP FOR UNIT III
SPEAKING
VERBAL JOUST
Holding a one-to-one debate on a politically relevant topic (for details see p. 116)
TERM PRESENTATION
Making a power point presentation based on one's analysis of an issue relevant to the topic “EU: At the Crossroads” (for details see p. 109)
INTEGRATING CORE SKILLS
PROJECT WORK
Compiling a Video Library (for details see p. 117)
Stage 1
Finding a video clip on the topic “EU: From Coal and Steel to a Bigger Deal”. Preparing a short statement on its merits
Stage 2
4—+
Writing Vocabulary notes and Listening/Viewing and Comprehension tasks to make the item ready for use in class
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Peer viewing and reviewing
1. Do you see Europe as one entity? Is the European Union, in your opinion, synonymous with Europe?
2. Which part of Europe plays a leading role in the international arena?
3. Do you think that politically Russia is part of Europe?
Unit III. EU at the Crossroads
TEXT A
Europe is still in the process of reorganizing itself after the loss of its empire and two devastating world wars, and it remains to be seen whether that reorganization will be peaceful. Europe is not going to regain its empire, but the complacent certainty that intra-European wars have ended needs to be examined. Central to this is the question of whether Europe is a spent volcano or whether it is merely dormant>1. The European Union has a total GDP of over $14 trillion, a trillion more than the United States. It is possible that a region of such wealth — and of such diversity in wealth — will remain immune from conflict, but it is not guaranteed.
It is unreasonable to talk of Europe as if it were one entity. It is not, in spite of the existence of the European Union. Europe consists of a series of sovereign and contentious>39>>40 nation-states. There is a general entity called Europe, but it is more reasonable to think of four Europes (we exclude Russia and the nations of the former Soviet Union from this list — although geographically European, these have a very different dynamic from that of Europe):
— Atlantic Europe: the nations that front the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea directly and that were the major imperial powers during the past five hundred years.
— Central Europe: essentially Germany and Italy, which did not come into existence until the late nineteenth century as modern nation-states. It was their assertion of national interest that led to the two world wars of the twentieth century.
