existential threat(чего-либо; Sometimes hawks refer to "existential threat" simply for the sake of fear-mongering to make the threat seem much more serious than it is, and sometimes they also do it because they have no idea how to assess threats. They exaggerate the threat to justify more aggressive policies, but they also exaggerate it because they don't know how to distinguish between different kinds. Because they can't tell the difference between threats that jeopardize our existence as a country and those that merely threaten our interests. /// The Amrican Interest, США (2015))
