美国国家公共电台 NPR 约旦王室“宫斗” 恐影响中东地区局势

A country that has long been a key U.S. ally and a source of stability in the Middle East is claiming an internal threat to its own stability this weekend. Authorities in Jordan say they've arrested several high-level officials who are part of a plot to destabilize the kingdom. Those arrested include a half-brother of King Abdullah, the former Crown Prince Hamzah bin¹ Hussein. In a leaked video, the prince denied he was part of any foreign-backed conspiracy². He said he was under house arrest solely³ for expressing dissent⁴.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HAMZAH BIN HUSSEIN: Even to criticize a small aspect of a policy leads to arrest and abuse by the security services. And it's reached the point where no one is able to speak or express an opinion on anything without being bullied⁵, arrested, harassed⁶ and threatened.

FADEL: Here to give us more insight on what is happening in Jordan is Nabih Bulos. He's Middle East correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, and he joins us from Amman, Jordan.

NABIH BULOS: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

FADEL: So break this down for us because there's a lot of intrigue⁷ surrounding this situation. What's happening in Jordan?

BULOS: Well, so, first of all, it should be said there's not much information still. I mean, today, the deputy prime minister, who is also the foreign minister, by the way, gave a pretty lengthy⁸ statement. But it was nevertheless quite low on details. So far, what has been said is that essentially⁹, the prince was in touch with various groups, including Jordanian opposition¹⁰ groups based abroad. And the intention was to destabilize the country — in theory, to eventually replace the king with the former crown prince.

FADEL: So as we mentioned earlier, Jordan is thought to be one of the most stable countries in the Middle East. How could this development upset that stability?

BULOS: Well, the fact of the matter is that so far, I have to admit there is still stability.

FADEL: Yeah.

BULOS: I mean, this morning, you know, the day after all these shocking allegations — and really, I mean, this was unprecedented¹¹ in recent Jordanian history — the country nevertheless functioned. And you didn't see tanks on the street. You didn't see, you know, necessarily a huge police presence. I mean, in fact, I actually drove across the country today. I had an appointment in the north of Jordan, and I was able to get there and back with no trouble and indeed was able to do my work without any interruption.

So, you know, I would argue that actually so far, the country is still stable. But in the long run, I think this will be a problem because the fact of the matter is that the prince is actually quite a popular figure, especially among the traditional power base in the country — you know, the tribal¹² figures, et cetera, right? He was seen as someone who was closer to those traditional power brokers¹³. And so the fact of the matter is this won't go down very easily. That's where I expect the problem will be.

And, of course, it's also worth noting that the kingdom is going through a terrible time economically now because of the coronavirus and several other factors. So there is already discontent.

FADEL: Now, we're seeing a lot of regional allies backing the moves by King Abdullah. We're also — as we're hearing the crown prince, or the former crown prince, now say that really, this is just a crackdown on any type of criticism or dissent. And this is a key U.S. ally. So does the U.S. perhaps face a tough choice here? Do they stand up for a key ally, or do they stand up potentially for the right to dissent in the kingdom?

BULOS: Well, historically speaking, Jordan has been, you know, a country that has always punched above its weight in terms of its importance. I mean, the fact is, its sheer landmass and its resources don't make it that important, but its location does because finally, it's bordered by Israel, by Iraq, by Syria, Saudi Arabia, et cetera. And it has managed to actually remain quite stable even though the neighborhood is not very stable at all, as you imagine.

And so the fact of the matter is that Jordan now plays host to about 600,000 Syrian refugees and roughly 2 million Palestinian refugees and their offspring. You know, so we're not talking about a country that is, you know, just dealing¹⁴ with its own population. There are others there. So the fact of the matter is that you cannot just let Jordan fall. The fear is that if you do, you will have another huge problem in the Middle East that will cause, you know, a ripple¹⁵ effect in other areas.

FADEL: That was Nabih Bulos, Middle East correspondent with the Los Angeles Times. Nabih, thank you so much for being with us.

BULOS: Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.

上周末，一个长期以来一直是美国重要盟友和中东地区稳定之源的国家称本国稳定遭遇内部威胁。约旦有关部门表示，他们逮捕了多名高级官员，这些官员涉嫌参与破坏约旦王国稳定的阴谋。被捕者包括国王阿卜杜拉同父异母的弟弟、前王储哈姆扎·本·侯赛因亲王。在遭泄露的视频中，亲王否认自己参与了任何外国支持的阴谋。他说自已被软禁仅仅是因为表达了不同意见。

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哈姆扎·本·侯赛因：即使批评政策的一个小方面，也会被安全部门逮捕和虐待。现在的情况是，没有人能够在不被欺侮、逮捕、骚扰和威胁的情况下就任何事情发表言论或发表意见。

法德尔：纳比赫·布洛斯将就约旦目前的局势进行详细报道 。他是《洛杉矶时报》驻中东地区的记者，他将从约旦首都安曼和我们连线。

纳比赫·布洛斯：非常感谢你们邀请我。谢谢。

法德尔：请帮我们详细分析一下，因为围绕当前情况有很多阴谋。约旦发生了什么？

布洛斯：首先，应该说目前我们掌握的信息并不多。今天，约旦副首相兼外交大臣发表了一份相当长的声明。但这份声明提供的详细信息并不多。截至目前，我们了解到的情况是，亲王与各种组织保持联系，包括总部设在境外的约旦反对派组织。其意图是破坏国家稳定——理论上，最终目标是由前王储取代国王。

法德尔：我们刚才提到过，约旦被认为是中东地区最稳定的国家之一。这一发展是否会破坏这种稳定？

布洛斯：事实上，到目前为止，我必须承认该国仍保持稳定。

法德尔：好。

布洛斯：今天早上，即在所有这些令人震惊的指控之后的第二天——这是约旦近代史上前所未有的事情——这个国家仍然运转正常。街上没有坦克。也没有不可避免地部署大批警察。事实上，我今天开车穿越了这个国家。我和人约好在约旦北部见面，而我能够顺利地往返，也能不受任何干扰地完成我的工作。

我认为实际上到目前为止，这个国家还仍保持稳定。但从长远来看，我认为这将成为问题，因为亲王是备受欢迎的人物，特别是在这个国家的传统权力基础中——部落人物等，对吧？他被视为与传统权力掮客关系更密切的人。因此，事实上这不会轻易被接受。我想这就是问题所在。

当然，值得一提的是，由于冠状病毒和其他一些因素的影响，约旦经济正处于非常糟糕的时期。因此，该国国内已经有不满的声音出现。

法德尔：现在，我们看到许多地区盟友支持阿卜杜拉国王的行动。我们也听到前王储说，这是对任何批评或异议的镇压。约旦是美国的重要盟友。那美国在这方面可能面临艰难的选择吗？美国是会支持这个重要盟友，还是可能会支持约旦王国的异议权？

布洛斯：从历史上讲，约旦这个国家的重要性总是凌驾于其地位之上。事实上，该国的国土面积和资源并没有多重要，但其地理位置却非常重要，因为该国与以色列、伊拉克、叙利亚、沙特阿拉伯等国接壤。而且即使在邻国并不太稳定的情况下，该国仍能保持稳定状态。

约旦目前收容了约60万名叙利亚难民以及约200万名巴勒斯坦难民及其后代。因此我们现在谈论的这个国家不仅要应对自已的人口问题。还要应对难民问题。所以不能让约旦崩盘。人们担心的是，如果发生这种情况，就会在中东遇到另一个严重问题，而这将在其他地区造成连锁反应。

法德尔：以上是《洛杉矶时报》驻中东记者纳比赫·布洛斯带来的报道。纳比赫，非常感谢你和我们连线。

布洛斯：谢谢你们邀请我。谢谢。

1 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

2 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

3 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

4 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

5 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 harassed   

adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
• harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

7 intrigue   

vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋

参考例句：

• Court officials will intrigue against the royal family.法院官员将密谋反对皇室。
• The royal palace was filled with intrigue.皇宫中充满了勾心斗角。

8 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

11 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

12 tribal   

adj.部族的，种族的

参考例句：

• He became skilled in several tribal lingoes.他精通几种部族的语言。
• The country was torn apart by fierce tribal hostilities.那个国家被部落间的激烈冲突弄得四分五裂。

13 brokers   

n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排…

参考例句：

• The firm in question was Alsbery & Co., whiskey brokers. 那家公司叫阿尔斯伯里公司，经销威士忌。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• From time to time a telephone would ring in the brokers' offices. 那两排经纪人房间里不时响着叮令的电话。 来自子夜部分

14 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

15 ripple   

n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进

参考例句：

• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。
• The small ripple split upon the beach.小小的涟漪卷来，碎在沙滩上。