双语新闻：俄罗斯总统普京对抗西方国家制裁的经济账

2014-08-14 12:19:56来源：可可英语

　　During his 14 years in power as both president and prime minister, Mr Putin has often gambledbig and mostly won. He went to war with Georgia in 2008 but less than a year later the actionwas all but forgotten as the US decided to “reset” the bilateral relationship. He muscled Russiaback into its global power position with his involvement in the Syria crisis. With a mixture ofeconomic incentives and threats, he worked tirelessly to strengthen Russia’s influence overformer Soviet republics – an endeavour that has hit a bump only now with Ukraine.

　　普京在作为总统和总理掌权的14年里经常展开豪赌，而且基本上都赌赢了。2008年，他发动了与格鲁吉亚的战争，但过了还不到一年，那次行动就几乎已被国际社会忘掉，美国也决定“重置”美俄双边关系。通过介入叙利亚危机，普京帮助俄罗斯强行重新跻身全球大国之列。他综合运用经济激励和威胁，不知疲倦地致力于强化俄对前苏联加盟共和国的影响力——这一努力只是最近才碰了钉子，这个钉子就是乌克兰。

　　This year, Mr Putin appeared to have accomplished the biggest feat of all with the annexationof Crimea. Although a wave of western sanctions put further strain on Russia’s slowingeconomy, there is little likelihood of Moscow being forced to give the territory back to Ukraine.Mr Putin upped the ante by declaring Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine part of a wider“Russian world” that Moscow was prepared to defend, regardless of national borders.

　　今年，随着俄罗斯吞并克里米亚，普京似乎完成了一项最大的壮举。尽管西方的一波制裁让正在放缓的俄罗斯经济承受了更大的压力，但俄被迫把克里米亚交还给乌克兰的可能性微乎其微。普京还加大了赌注，称乌克兰东部讲俄语的人群是更广泛的“俄罗斯世界”(Russian world)的一部分，俄政府准备保护这一世界，不管其具体属于哪国。

　　At home, this has been hugely successful. On the back of euphoria that Mr Putin has restoredRussian pride and power, his popularity ratings have soared to close to a record 90 per cent,according to state-run VTsIOM and independent Levada, Russia’s biggest pollsters.

　　这样做法在俄国内取得了巨大的成功。官方的全俄民意研究中心(VTsIOM)以及独立的勒瓦达中心(Levada)的数据显示，在普京恢复俄罗斯自豪感与影响力带来的狂喜的支撑下，他的支持率大幅上升，逼近90%这一最高纪录。

　　The sentiment has allowed Mr Putin to divide and crush what remains of a shortlived rebellionby Moscow’s middle class against his increasingly autocratic rule in late 2011 and early 2012.

　　这种民意使得普京能够分化并扫清一次短命反抗的残余影响——2010年末到2012年初，莫斯科中产阶级曾站出来反抗普京专制色彩日渐浓厚的统治。

　　Pavel Surikov, a German-educated interior designer who says he took part in the anti-Putinmarches back then, no longer speaks to two former friends because they criticised Mr Putin’sUkraine policy. “Ever since the Soviet Union fell apart, the US has been encroaching on Russia’ssphere of influence, and Ukraine is no exception,” he says. He rejects western media reportsabout the downing of MH17 as lies and propaganda and accuses the west of ignoring theplight of Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine. “I know Putin has done a lot of bad things, buthe is right on this one,” says Mr Surikov. “We are strong. And we will stand together no matterwhat they do to us.”

　　帕维尔•苏里科夫(Pavel Surikov)是一名在德国受过教育的室内设计师，他说自己当时参加过反普京的游行。但他现在不再理睬以前的两位朋友了，因为他们批评普京的乌克兰政策。他说：“自苏联解体以来，美国一直在蚕食俄罗斯的势力范围，在乌克兰也不例外。”他不相信西方媒体关于马航MH17航班被击落的报道，认为那是谎言和宣传攻势，并指责西方罔顾乌克兰东部讲俄语人群的困境。“我清楚普京做了很多坏事，但这件事他做对了，”苏里科夫说，“我们很强大。无论他们怎么对付我们，我们都将团结在一起。”

　　But such beliefs might soon be put to a tough test, which observers believe could be Mr Putin’sundoing. They argue that economic decline could quickly deflate the nationalist euphoria fedby a relentless state media campaign. “You have to keep raising incomes,” says the Russianinvestment group executive. “There’s not a lot of historic precedent for containing anisolated system except North Korea. You can’t do it, not today.”

　　但这些信念可能很快就会面临严峻考验。观察人士认为，这次考验可能成为普京的滑铁卢。他们辩称，官方媒体无休止宣传催生的民族主义狂喜，可能很快就将被经济衰退所冲淡。“你得保住收入的增长势头，”上述那名俄罗斯投资集团的高管说，“除了朝鲜以外，历史上并没有多少先例告诉你如何掌控一套闭关锁国的体制。你做不到这一点，现在这个时代做不到。”

本文关键字: 双语新闻西方国家制裁的俄罗斯