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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Leaders from across the Middle East are meeting in Saudi Arabia
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is officially ending years of isolation2 by the region's powers over his brutal3 civil war that has killed an estimated half a million people.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Leaders from across the Arab world are meeting in Saudi Arabia, and someone who hasn't been in the room for more than a decade is making a reappearance. Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is officially ending years of isolation by the region's power over a civil war that has killed about half a million people. Washington has condemned4 the kingdom's normalization5 of ties with Assad. The invitation is seen as another sign of the strained relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Also, there's a surprise visitor today. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Jeddah, where the summit is taking place. And that's also where NPR's Aya Batrawy is right now, and she joins me now. Good morning.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE6: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: So, Aya, we'll get to Zelenskyy's surprise visit in a moment. But I want to start with Bashar al-Assad's reappearance at the summit - quite significant. He was something of a pariah7 in the region over his crackdown on the opposition8 to his rule, the torture in prisons, the hundreds of thousands who've been killed in the Civil War. And now he's just welcomed back.
BATRAWY: Yeah. I mean, ultimately, yes, there were important countries like Egypt and the United Arab Emirates that had already been building ties with Syria for years. But the big shift really happened after February's earthquakes that hit Turkey and parts of Syria. It gave Saudi Arabia the opening that it was looking for to reengage with Syria at first for humanitarian9 purposes. But not everyone in the region agrees with this embrace of Assad. The image of Assad standing10 with leaders today for that - their group photo, shaking hands, is jarring to also many Syrians as well. I spoke11 with Mohammed Alaa Ghanem. He's the policy chief at the Syrian American Council, an opposition group that's calling for democracy in Syria. He says Arab states are legitimizing Assad without extracting real concessions12 first.
MOHAMMED ALAA GHANEM: Has Assad changed anything? Has Assad released political prisoners, especially women and children? Assad has made absolutely no changes, no concessions that would merit readmitting him. So sadly, normalizing ties with him can only be seen as capitulation.
FADEL: So this war started in protests against Assad's rule. They were violently repressed. That led to a civil war. Saudi Arabia backed the rebels trying to topple Assad. So does the Saudi invitation to Assad mean somehow that Assad has officially won?
BATRAWY: Well, he oversees13 an economy that's in tatters. U.S. sanctions are also an obstacle to how far countries can go in normalizing with him. And there are still parts of the country that are not under his control. But Russia and Iran rushed to his aid, and he wasn't toppled in the end. And now Syria's civil war is at a stalemate. Millions of Syrian refugees are looking to go back home, but they need - the country needs to be rebuilt, and Arab states want a piece of that. And they're hoping Syria can reorient itself back into the Arab fold and sort of move away from Iran, which still has a big footprint there.
FADEL: OK, so we obviously do need to discuss this visit from Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. What do you make of his appearance this morning?
BATRAWY: I mean, it is an unusual one 'cause he's from Ukraine and this is a summit of Arab leaders. But for Zelenskyy, this is a chance to lay out his country's demands, that Russia returns all Ukrainian territory it has annexed14 since 2014. And he's making that pitch to Arab states that have close ties with Russia, both politically and economically. Saudi Arabia has an oil pact15 with Russia that's helped Russia's economy by keeping oil prices higher. And there have been Arab countries that have helped Russians evade16 sanctions by keeping business open. So - but for Saudi Arabia, for the crown prince, this is a chance to flex17 his diplomatic muscles and show that he's not going to be pressured by the U.S. or by Russia to pick sides.
FADEL: NPR's Aya Batrawy in Jeddah, thank you so much.
BATRAWY: Thanks, Leila.
1 transcript | |
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书 | |
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2 isolation | |
n.隔离,孤立,分解,分离 | |
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3 brutal | |
adj.残忍的,野蛮的,不讲理的 | |
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4 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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5 normalization | |
n.(normalisation)正常化,标准化 | |
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6 byline | |
n.署名;v.署名 | |
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7 pariah | |
n.被社会抛弃者 | |
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8 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
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9 humanitarian | |
n.人道主义者,博爱者,基督凡人论者 | |
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10 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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11 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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12 concessions | |
n.(尤指由政府或雇主给予的)特许权( concession的名词复数 );承认;减价;(在某地的)特许经营权 | |
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13 oversees | |
v.监督,监视( oversee的第三人称单数 ) | |
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14 annexed | |
[法] 附加的,附属的 | |
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15 pact | |
n.合同,条约,公约,协定 | |
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16 evade | |
vt.逃避,回避;避开,躲避 | |
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17 flex | |
n.皮线,花线;vt.弯曲或伸展 | |
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