drop its pretense

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The American smart power cannot but drop its pretense on account of its inability to do what it wants to do for the time being; however its strategic goal remains to be “reshaping the U.S. leadership status of the world,” not allowing any other nation to be on a par with it.

Can you understand this paragraph?

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@fansy,

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Can you understand this paragraph?

Indubitably, Fansy. I'm whacha call an English native speaker.

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It is confusing to say the least. If America is unable to do what it wants to do, one would suspect that it would want to persuade the world that it can, and thus keep the pretense.
And if its strategic goal remains to be “reshaping the U.S. leadership status of the world,” it would presumably indicate a change from not wanting any nation to be on a par with it.
The entire part reads like bad propaganda, so asking it to make sense seems a futile effort.

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@fansy,

The American smart power cannot but drop its pretense on account of its inability to do what it wants to do for the time being;

= the major, "nobody can touch us" power is feeling the pinch in a number of areas so smart power realizes that rather than continue to make the USA look the fool, it's acknowledging some of its shortcomings, showing a willingness to work with others. In other words, smart power isn't a swaggering, "I'll take on all comers with one hand tied behind my back" attitude.

however its strategic goal remains to be “reshaping the U.S. leadership status of the world,” not allowing any other nation to be on a par with it.

= Long term goal, getting the USA back to a position that's far above other countries so it can do as it pleases.

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@fansy,

sure. "The American smart power cannot but drop its pretense on account of its inability to do what it wants to do for the time being;"

A pretense is kind of a lie, like a cover-up, a disguise. The writer is saying that "smart power" is obviously a pretense or a lie, because if America was honestly smart and powerful, it would be entirely capable of doing what it wants to do. Because of its "inability to do what it wants to do for the time being," however, it obviously can't be that smart or powerful.

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The American smart power can't do anything else other than drop its false claim, because it can't do what it wants to do right now.

Its strategic goal of “reshaping the U.S. leadership status of the world,” can't be obtained at this time.

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@PUNKEY,

Quote:

The American smart power cannot but drop its pretense on account of its inability to do what it wants to do for the time being; however its strategic goal remains to be “reshaping the U.S. leadership status of the world,” not allowing any other nation to be on a par with it.

"Cannot bu drop its pretense" is a translation of the Chinese phrase "bude bu fangxia shenduan," meaning literally, cannot but put down its posture/stature/ status of a dignitary, though now in a bad shape, but still trying to pretend that one is still rich, still powerful, still influencial...
I think now you can understand the meaning of "cannot but drop its pretense." But if you do not agree that this translation is not the right one to convey the meaning of the Chinese phrase, then it must be a wrong translation.

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@fansy,

Quote:

"Cannot but drop its pretense" is a translation of the Chinese phrase "bude bu fangxia shenduan," meaning literally, cannot but put down its posture/stature/ status of a dignitary, though now in a bad shape, but still trying to pretend that one is still rich, still powerful, still influencial...
I think now you can understand the meaning of "cannot but drop its pretense." But if you do not agree that this translation is not the right one to convey the meaning of the Chinese phrase, then it must be a wrong translation.

cannot but [do sth] = cannot do anything else but do sth

The American smart power cannot do anything else but drop its pretense

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drop its pretense

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