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In this passage:

Или как можно вообразить высадку инопланетян и Чехии, Венгрии, Финляндии или хоть в Бельгии? Во-первых, с какой стати? Очень странный выбор! Во-вторых, американцы там тут же окажутся, чтобы всё выяснить. Так что зачем терять инопланетянам время? А они, коль скоро долетели до нас, уж точно не дураки. Так что лучше сразу, не теряя времени, в Америку.

How does the sentence with коль скоро relate to the rest of the paragraph, and what does коль скоро actually mean?

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  • Alternative for "коль скоро" - "раз уж". Approximate English equivalent: "so if".
    – Vi.
    Jun 8, 2014 at 14:29
  • Can раз уж replace коль скоро in the above passage, for instance, with the same meaning?
    – CocoPop
    Jun 8, 2014 at 20:35
  • 1
    @CocoPop You can replace it with the following: А если они долетели до нас, то точно не дураки
    – Putnik
    Jun 10, 2014 at 9:42

1 Answer 1

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Approximate translation to English:

> Так что зачем терять инопланетянам время? 
So why the aliens should waste time?

> А они, коль скоро долетели до нас, уж точно не дураки. 
They, as they managed to get here, are definitely not fools.

> Так что лучше сразу, не теряя времени, в Америку.
So better go to America straight from the beginning.

The phrase means "If alians are clever enough to manage to get to the Earth, they'll find out that USA people will appear wherever they land to investigate, so they are better to land in USA in the first place (to save up time).".

(Note: I'm not endorsing this, just translating).

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  • 2
    Aha! So it means "seeing that" in this context: Seeing that they made their way to us, they can't be complete fools. Now it makes perfect sense. Thank you!
    – CocoPop
    Jun 8, 2014 at 14:42
  • "Seeing that" -> thanks for English tips.
    – Vi.
    Jun 8, 2014 at 15:15

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