Of course, Russian diplomacy has performed extremely well recently, but it does not stand on its own merits alone. Russia’s diplomats would have gained little without America’s foreign-policy malaise – a victim of Obama’s vacillation and of Americans’ hostility to any new military adventure, however limited its scope – and Europe’s deep internal divisions.
当然，俄罗斯外交最近表现极为出色，但这并不是全由其自身优点带来的。要不是美国外交政策昏招频出（这是拜奥巴马的犹豫不决和美国人民不愿再牵涉任何军事行动所赐）、欧洲陷入了深度分裂，俄罗斯外交官原本也取得不了多少成就。