Mr Bush was indifferent to Russia’s legitimate concerns but soft on the Kremlin’s abuses of power.

布什对俄罗斯的合法化问题反应冷淡，对克里姆林宫滥用权力却很宽容。

youdao

As a friend in Congress once told me, "You are right about the importance of combining soft power with hard power, but I cannot talk about soft power and hope to get re-elected."

我在国会的一个朋友曾这么跟我说过：“关于结合软硬实力的重要性，你说得没错，但我要是一提软实力，就别想再次当选了。”

youdao

Although the tongue soft, but sometimes it is greater than the power of the knife.

舌头虽然柔软，但它有时比刀子的威力更大。

youdao

But China's soft-power push has coincided with an increasingly strong rejection by Chinese leaders of the very notion of universal values.

ECONOMIST: China abroad

But if Obama embraces the soft presidential power strategy that was employed by FDR, Reagan and other successful presidents, he will find himself in a much stronger position than Bush and might very well be able to rescue this nation and build the long-term majority that so many Democrats are hoping for and so many Republicans lament having failed to achieve.

CNN: Commentary: Obama can learn from Bush's failures

But Europe - believing so strongly in soft power - had failed utterly in its own backyard at Srebrenica.

BBC: Will Sarkozy get a statue in Tripoli?