美国国家公共电台 NPR--Biden says he'll back Ukraine as long as it takes. But some take aim at the price tag

Biden says he'll back Ukraine as long as it takes. But some take aim at the price tag

Transcript¹

When President Biden made a secret trip Monday to Ukraine marking the anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he declared that the United States is going to back Ukraine as long as it takes.

"I thought it was critical that there not be any doubt, none whatsoever², about U.S. support for Ukraine in the war," Biden said, standing³ beside Ukrainian President President Volodymr Zelenskyy.

Biden announced a half a billion dollars of additional assistance to Ukraine including the delivery of "artillery⁴ ammunition⁵, anti-armor systems, and air surveillance radars⁶ to help protect the Ukrainian people from aerial bombardments."

But after Congress appropriated more than $112 billion in military and economic support in the space of a single year — and with no signs of an end to the conflict — polls show a growing number of Americans feel the United States is giving Ukraine too much.

That sentiment has fueled calls for more scrutiny⁸ of how U.S. assistance is being used in a country known for its struggles with corruption⁹.

"My great fear is that there's going to be some scandal," said Mark Cancian, an expert in military procurement¹⁰ who has worked both at the Office of Management and Budget and the Pentagon. "Either weapons show up in the Middle East, someplace where they're not supposed to be, or some oligarch is discovered to have siphoned funds off and is sailing around the Mediterranean¹¹ in his yacht, paid for by American taxpayers¹³."

So far, there have not been signs that U.S. aid to Ukraine has ended up in the wrong hands. But the war is far from over. Ukraine is asking for more support to continue fighting Russia. And the long and expensive work of rebuilding after the conflict has yet to begin.

"When you spend that much money that fast, there's bound to be problems, there's bound to be leakage," said John Sopko, the Special Inspector¹⁴ General for Afghanistan Reconstruction¹⁵.

Sopko, who has reported on failure after failure with aid for Afghanistan, warns that a country can only absorb so much aid before things begin to spill over into the illicit¹⁶ economy.

"You take a sponge, you put it on your kitchen counter and you fill it with water. Drip, drip, drip. It holds the water, " Sopko said. "Then all of a sudden it reaches a certain point, and then all the water starts spreading out from that sponge."

That tipping point tends to be between 15% to 45% of a nation's GDP. Ukraine's GDP before the war was $200 billion.

Congress is promising¹⁷ greater oversight¹⁸

The risks of problems have sparked concern on Capitol Hill. Republican and Democratic supporters of Ukraine are worried about maintaining public support for U.S. aid.

At the start of the conflict, some 60% of Americans backed sending weapons to Ukraine, according to polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Now, that's slipped to 48%.

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has supported Ukraine, but more recently has warned that there "can't be a blank check" for Ukraine aid when the United States faces so much debt of its own.

The House Armed Services Committee plans to hold a hearing on oversight efforts with the Defense¹⁹ Department's Inspector General on Feb. 28, according to a senior committee aide, who was not authorized²⁰ to speak publicly about the hearing.

The aide said that Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., will pursue "unprecedented²¹ oversight" of U.S. aid sent to Ukraine.

The most recent congressional funding package built in more funding for oversight of the aid, and Republican leaders have asked for more regular updates on checks and balances on the spending.

The administration has ramped²² up reviews of the aid

Administration officials have ramped up their oversight. Government watchdogs have launched more than 60 reviews and completed at least 14.

One report, released last month, found that there's a "significant risk of misuse²³ and diversion given the volume and speed of assistance" during the war. It also cites a classified Pentagon report that raised concerns that the Defense Department isn't able to fully²⁴ monitor the weapons, in part because U.S. troops are not allowed in the country.

But so far, there has been no credible²⁵ evidence of wide-scale problems, said Jessica Lewis, assistant secretary for the State Department's bureau of political-military affairs.

The administration is taking steps to prevent Russia – or someone else – from getting their hands on U.S. weapons.

"We should all be concerned about the possibility of a weapon ending up in the wrong hands outside of Ukraine," Lewis said. "That is why we have to put all of these things in place."

U.S. inspectors²⁶ have been to Ukraine and the defense staff has been increased at the Kyiv embassy, she said. The Ukrainian government has signed detailed²⁷ security agreements about safeguarding the weapons and not transferring them to third parties.

"That is our responsibility to our own national security," she said. "It's our responsibility to our war fighters, and it's our responsibility to the American public to make sure when we transfer a weapon, we are doing so responsibly."

The reviews are spread among a host of watchdogs. That could be a problem

The myriad²⁸ oversight reviews are being done by a sprawling²⁹ number of administration offices in several departments and agencies. John Sopko said he is concerned that there's a lack of coordination³⁰.

He said there should be a dedicated³¹ team for the work and he worries that the U.S. government is waiting too long to set that up. That's a lesson that should have been learned from Afghanistan, he said, where his office would have been more effective had it been established much earlier in the conflict.

Sopko is particularly worried about economic aid. The U.S. is sending about $50 billion to help prop⁷ up the Kyiv government, money that helps pay the salaries of officials, police officers and teachers.

"That was one of the biggest concerns we had in Afghanistan," he said. "Because the salaries we were paying weren't going to the right people or weren't going to people at all ... So we had ghost civil servants, ghost people in the military, ghost teachers or whatever."

U.S. officials say government auditors³² are working with the World Bank to ensure taxpayer¹² dollars are not misspent.

Ukraine has a history of corruption, but it's a sensitive issue right now

Last year, Ukraine was ranked 116 out of 180 countries for corruption by Transparency International. The issue has scuttled³³ the country's bid to join the European Union and kept it out of NATO.

Talking about corruption in Ukraine is kind of taboo³⁴ these days. Those who raise concerns have been accused of spreading "Russian propaganda."

But, just months before the war started, Biden himself was complaining about corruption, explaining that was why Ukraine wasn't getting closer to joining the NATO alliance.

"The fact is, they still have to clean up corruption," Biden said. "The fact is, they have to meet other criteria³⁵ to get into the action plan. And so school's out on that question."

The administration has avoided public criticism of Ukraine since Russia invaded. But it has quietly continued to press for change.

Zelenskyy — who was elected to office on an anti-corruption platform — had submitted a bill in early 2021 to close the Kyiv Administrative³⁶ District Court, long criticized for corruption.

But it wasn't until December that it happened, just days after the U.S. State Department sanctioned its chairman, Pavlo Vovk, for soliciting³⁷ bribes³⁸.

"I think that that's a pretty good example that corruption can be pretty resilient in Ukraine," said Steven Pifer, a Clinton-era U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. "It took some time... but it finally was shut down. And that was a good thing for Ukraine's justice system."

Then last month, Zelenskyy fired another group of officials in a corruption scandal. "I want people to understand," Zelensky said in a video address during the scandal, "We will never return to how things were before ... to the lifestyles that bureaucrats³⁹ had gotten used to, to the old way of chasing power."

Strong oversight may be in Biden's best political interests

In Washington, many of the calls for more oversight are coming from Republicans and Democrats⁴⁰ who support the war effort. They do not want to give political leverage⁴¹ to those who are more interested in cutting assistance altogether.

"We as Democrats — as the White House — I think we should continue to work with these national security Republicans ... and their fellow travelers in good faith to not let domestic politics prevent us from staying united behind Ukraine," said Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass.

It's also in Biden's political interests to work with those Republicans. He's widely expected to make a run for a second term in the 2024 election, and he doesn't want a Ukraine spending scandal to become an election issue.

In Ukraine Monday, Biden emphasized that there was broad, bipartisan support in Washington - and that Americans are invested in the Ukrainian cause.

"For all the disagreement we have in our Congress on some issues, there is significant agreement on support for Ukraine," he said.

"It's not just about freedom in Ukraine," Biden said. "It's about freedom of democracy at large."

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

4 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

5 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

6 radars   

n.雷达( radar的名词复数 )；雷达装置

参考例句：

• Servos for large radars and launchers are either electro-hydraulic or all-electric. 大型雷达和发射装置的伺服系统，不是电动-液压式的，就是全电动式的。 来自辞典例句
• Range-velocity simultaneous pull-off is one of effective measures for countering PD radars. 距离-速度同步拖引干扰是对抗PD雷达的有效方法。 来自互联网

7 prop   

vt.支撑；n.支柱，支撑物；支持者，靠山

参考例句：

• A worker put a prop against the wall of the tunnel to keep it from falling.一名工人用东西支撑住隧道壁好使它不会倒塌。
• The government does not intend to prop up declining industries.政府无意扶持不景气的企业。

8 scrutiny   

n.详细检查，仔细观察

参考例句：

• His work looks all right,but it will not bear scrutiny.他的工作似乎很好，但是经不起仔细检查。
• Few wives in their forties can weather such a scrutiny.很少年过四十的妻子经得起这么仔细的观察。

9 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

10 procurement   

n.采购；获得

参考例句：

• He is in charge of the procurement of materials.他负责物资的采购。
• More and more,human food procurement came to have a dominant effect on their evolution.人类获取食物愈来愈显著地影响到人类的进化。

11 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

12 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

13 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

14 inspector   

n.检查员，监察员，视察员

参考例句：

• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school.视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。
• The inspector was shining a flashlight onto the tickets.查票员打着手电筒查看车票。

15 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

16 illicit   

adj.非法的，禁止的，不正当的

参考例句：

• He had an illicit association with Jane.他和简曾有过不正当关系。
• Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year.今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。

17 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

18 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

19 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

20 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

21 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。

22 ramped   

土堤斜坡( ramp的过去式和过去分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯

参考例句：

• With the arrival of George Lucas, the pace has ramped up. 随着乔治·卢卡斯的到来，速度大大加快。
• They also sold corporate bonds as the global financial crisis ramped up. 在全球金融危机加剧之际，他们还抛售了公司债券。

23 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

24 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

25 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

26 inspectors   

n.检查员( inspector的名词复数 )；（英国公共汽车或火车上的）查票员；（警察）巡官；检阅官

参考例句：

• They got into the school in the guise of inspectors. 他们假装成视察员进了学校。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Inspectors checked that there was adequate ventilation. 检查员已检查过，通风良好。 来自《简明英汉词典》

27 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

28 myriad   

adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量

参考例句：

• They offered no solution for all our myriad problems.对于我们数不清的问题他们束手无策。
• I had three weeks to make a myriad of arrangements.我花了三个星期做大量准备工作。

29 sprawling   

adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）

参考例句：

• He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
• a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇

30 coordination   

n.协调，协作

参考例句：

• Gymnastics is a sport that requires a considerable level of coordination.体操是一项需要高协调性的运动。
• The perfect coordination of the dancers and singers added a rhythmic charm to the performance.舞蹈演员和歌手们配合得很好，使演出更具魅力。

31 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

32 auditors   

n.审计员，稽核员( auditor的名词复数 )；（大学课程的）旁听生

参考例句：

• The company has been in litigation with its previous auditors for a full year. 那家公司与前任审计员已打了整整一年的官司。
• a meeting to discuss the annual accounts and the auditors' report thereon 讨论年度报表及其审计报告的会议

33 scuttled   

v.使船沉没( scuttle的过去式和过去分词 )；快跑，急走

参考例句：

• She scuttled off when she heard the sound of his voice. 听到他的说话声，她赶紧跑开了。
• The thief scuttled off when he saw the policeman. 小偷看见警察来了便急忙跑掉。 来自《简明英汉词典》

34 taboo   

n.禁忌，禁止接近，禁止使用；adj.禁忌的；v.禁忌，禁制，禁止

参考例句：

• The rude words are taboo in ordinary conversation.这些粗野的字眼在日常谈话中是禁忌的。
• Is there a taboo against sex before marriage in your society?在你们的社会里，婚前的性行为犯禁吗？

35 criteria   

n.标准

参考例句：

• The main criterion is value for money.主要的标准是钱要用得划算。
• There are strict criteria for inclusion in the competition.参赛的标准很严格。

36 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

37 soliciting   

v.恳求( solicit的现在分词 )；（指娼妇）拉客；索求；征求

参考例句：

• A prostitute was soliciting on the street. 一名妓女正在街上拉客。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• China Daily is soliciting subscriptions. 《中国日报》正在征求订户。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

38 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

39 bureaucrats   

n.官僚( bureaucrat的名词复数 )；官僚主义；官僚主义者；官僚语言

参考例句：

• That is the fate of the bureaucrats, not the inspiration of statesmen. 那是官僚主义者的命运，而不是政治家的灵感。 来自辞典例句
• Big business and dozens of anonymous bureaucrats have as much power as Japan's top elected leaders. 大企业和许多不知名的官僚同日本选举出来的最高层领导者们的权力一样大。 来自辞典例句

40 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

41 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。