But Russia is no match for the US militarily and no match for China economically, and its soft power is virtually non-existent. If Russia can provoke America – whether by granting political asylum to the “traitor” Edward Snowden, for example, or by resisting Western diplomacy in the Middle East – it is not because it has become a great power once again, but simply because America is no longer the great power that it once was.
但俄罗斯军力不如美国，经济不如中国，软实力更是基本为零。如果说俄罗斯能够挑衅美国——比如，不管是授予“叛国者”斯诺登政治庇护，还是抵抗西方在中东的外交攻势——那也不是因为它重新成为超级大国，而仅仅是因为美国已不再是曾经的超级大国。