俄罗斯是欧洲各国最危险的邻居

2014-10-08 16:56:22来源：可可英语

　　The west has too often failed to live up to these ideals. But they remain beacons. In the early1990s they were beacons to many Russians. As a great admirer of Russian culture and Russiancourage, I hoped, fondly perhaps, that the country would find a way through the debris of itscollapsed ideology, state and empire. I knew it would be difficult. I wanted Russia to choosewestern values, however, not just for our sake but also for its own. The alternative ofcontinuing the cycle of despotism was too depressing.

　　很多时候西方没能实现这些理想。但这些理想依然是指明灯。在20世纪90年代初，这些理想也是很多俄罗斯人心中的指明灯。作为一个非常赞赏俄罗斯文化和俄罗斯人勇气的人，我(也许是一厢情愿地)希望这个国家能够从崩塌的意识形态、国家和帝国的废墟中找到一条出路。我知道这很困难。我希望俄罗斯选择西方价值观，并不只是为了我们，也是为了俄罗斯本身。否则俄罗斯继续处在循环往复的专制统治下太令人沮丧了。

　　With the selection of Mr Putin, a former KGB colonel, as his successor, Boris Yeltsin deliveredthat outcome. The president may, for now, be a popular despot. But a despot he is. He isalso heir to the project of Yuri Andropov, former KGB head and Soviet leader, for a modernisedautocracy. As a loyal servant of the state, he believes results alone matter. Lies are justanother tool of statecraft. Only the wilfully blind could fail to see that evident truth in recentmonths.

　　鲍里斯•叶利钦(Boris Yeltsin)选择前克格勃(KGB)上校普京作为继任者，促成了这个结果。普京现在来看或许是个受欢迎的专制者。但他依然是专制者。他同时也继承了前克格勃和苏联领导人尤里•安德罗波夫(YuriAndropov)建立现代化独裁政体的计划。作为国家的忠实仆人，普京相信结果是唯一重要的事物。谎言只不过是另一种治国之术。只有故意视而不见的人才看不到最近数月展露出的显而易见的真实。

　　The west is partly responsible for this tragic outcome. It failed to offer the support Russianeeded quickly enough in the early 1990s. Instead it focused, ludicrously, on who would paythe Soviet debt. It acquiesced in the larceny of Russian wealth for the benefit of a few.

　　西方对这个悲剧性的结果负有部分责任。西方没能以足够快的速度在20世纪90年代早期提供俄罗斯所需的支持。相反，西方采取了荒谬的行动，纠结于谁来偿还苏联的债务。为了少数人的利益，西方还默许了窃取俄罗斯财富的行为。

　　But more important was the refusal of Russia’s elite to address the reasons for the collapse,then to start afresh. Only by confronting the reality of Stalin’s monstrous machinery ofoppression and lies could they build something new.

　　但更重要的是，俄罗斯的精英拒绝直面苏联解体的原因并从头开始。只有正视斯大林(Stalin)骇人听闻的压迫和谎言体系，他们才能建立一些全新的东西。

　　The nation that has emerged was always the likely outcome. It sees itself as surrounded byenemies. Foreign relations are zero sum; success for others is a failure for Russia. In this view,a prosperous and democratic Ukraine, if achieved (a remote possibility, I agree), is anightmare. For Moscow’s elites preventing that is, as Mr Karaganov puts it, “a struggle to stopothers expanding their sphere of control into territories they believe are vital to Russia’ssurvival”. And who is it that, allegedly, threatens Russia’s survival? It is a west that is“weaker than many imagine”. Such a feeble west plays the part of bogeyman.

　　唯一可能的结果永远是现在出现的这个国家。它认为自己被敌人包围。对外关系是零和游戏;其他人的成功就是俄罗斯的失败。按照这种观点，乌克兰如果能成为一个繁荣和民主的国家(我也认为其希望渺茫)，对俄罗斯来说是一个噩梦。如卡拉加诺夫所言，对俄罗斯精英来说，阻止这一点“是一场斗争，为的是阻止他人将势力范围扩展到他们心目中对俄罗斯的存续至关重要的区域”。那么在他们眼中，谁在威胁俄罗斯的存续?是“比许多人想象中更弱”的西方。这样一个孱弱的西方扮演着骇人的妖怪。

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