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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Biden is going to Hiroshima at a moment when nuclear tensions are on the rise
On August 6, 1945, on the order of President Harry2 Truman, a B-29 named the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The blast destroyed the city, killed more than 100,000 people, and hastened the end of World War II.
On the 75th anniversary of the bombing, in the middle of his campaign for the White House, Joe Biden marked the moment, writing that the images of destruction in Hiroshima — and, three days later, in Nagasaki — "still horrify3 us."
"They reach through history to remind us of the hideous4 damage nuclear weapons can inflict5, and our collective responsibility to ensure that such weapons are never again used," Biden said.
Later this week, now-President Biden arrives in Hiroshima as a man who holds that responsibility in his hands.
Biden will visit the city for the G-7 summit, where he and other world leaders will focus on a range of issues, including Russia's ongoing6 invasion of Ukraine, climate change, and the global economy.
But Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who represents Hiroshima in Japan's legislature, has said he hopes the setting of the summit will bring a focus to the danger of nuclear weapons.
And in that setting, the leader of the country who carried out the bombing will inevitably7 play an outsized role in any events commemorating8 it.
Obama visited Hiroshima in 2016
Former President Barack Obama was the first sitting U.S. president to visit the city, speaking at its Peace Memorial in 2016. Standing9 alongside then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Obama said that "death fell from the sky and the world was changed."
Obama pointedly11 did not apologize for the U.S. decision to use atomic weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but paid tribute to the people who died, and tried to put the threat of nuclear weapons in context. "Hiroshima teaches us this truth," Obama said. "Technological12 progress without an equivalent progress in human institutions can doom13 us."
Jon Wolfsthal, who worked on nuclear proliferation in the Obama Administration, helped plan that trip. A year later, he found himself talking to a local official during a visit of his own to Hiroshima.
"I explained that I had helped President Obama prepare for that trip, and she broke into tears. Because for the people of Hiroshima to know that they were seen, and that the president of the United States was there not to apologize, but to simply recognize the role that Hiroshima plays in the world, had a big emotional impact on the people," Wolfsthal recalled.
Biden's visit is different, but still carries symbolic14 weight
In 2016, Obama was making a clear decision to visit Hiroshima and confront what happened there.
But Biden's trip will be a bit different, given that he is coming to meet with other world leaders at the G-7. They are expected to begin the summit with a visit to Hiroshima's Peace Memorial, and may meet with survivors15 of the bombing.
Still, for Biden, the trip will inevitably carry heavy symbolism. "You have a sitting U.S. president, a man with control over the world's most powerful nuclear arsenal16, going to the place where nuclear weapons were first used. That has impact," Wolfsthal said.
That's especially true at a moment when nuclear tension is higher than at any point since the end of the Cold War. "It's hard to find a nuclear issue in the world today that's heading in a positive direction, or where U.S. security is being improved," Wolfsthal said.
North Korea is testing missiles and threatening South Korea to that point that Biden recently had to re-emphasize the United States' commitment to protect South Korea with nuclear weapons, and warn that "a nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies or partners is unacceptable, and will result in the end of whatever regime were to take such an action."
China is increasing its nuclear arsenal. Iran continues to pursue nuclear weapons.
And above all, there's Russia.
Putin has ramped17 up his nuclear bluster18
Since its invasion of Ukraine, Russia's relationship with the United States has deteriorated19, calling into question whether the last remaining major nuclear arms control treaty — New START — will be allowed to expire in early 2026.
And towering over all these other threats, there's the fact that President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials have repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Biden has repeatedly responded, warning Putin of the serious consequences.
The continued nuclear bluster has shocked nuclear experts. "Even in the coldest days of the Cold War, the U.S. and the Soviets20 always ... continued to carry on a very substantive21 dialogue on nonproliferation issues," said Susan Burk.
Burk worked on nuclear issues at the State Department for decades, rising to the rank of ambassador during the Obama administration. Currently, she's on the board of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.
She's been particularly alarmed at how many times Putin has pointed10 to Hiroshima and Nagasaki to note the fact it was the United States that first used nuclear weapons against another nation.
"The fact that it was done once doesn't mean that it would be OK for someone to do it again," she said.
It's unclear how much Biden will talk about nuclear policy on this trip
Burk has signed onto a letter urging Biden to take advantage of his visit to the site of the first nuclear attack, and deliver a major speech on nuclear threats.
Regardless of where and when it happens, Wolfsthal argued Biden does need to lay out a clear policy — and soon — on how to de-escalate all the growing nuclear threats the world is facing.
"What is the policy that is going to tie these different pieces together? On China, on Russia, on North Korea, on Iran? On our own nuclear arsenal? And how are we going to try to turn the tide, which I think most objective people would recognize has been very negative," Wolfsthal said.
A National Security Council spokesperson downplayed the likelihood of a major nuclear speech on this trip, saying Biden plans to "pay his respects to the innocent who lost their lives" and will "reaffirm the U.S.'s commitment to nuclear nonproliferation," but noting that the broader G-7 agenda is the focus.
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| n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书 | |
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harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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horrify
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| vt.使恐怖，使恐惧，使惊骇 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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ongoing
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| adj.进行中的，前进的 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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commemorating
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| v.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的现在分词 ) | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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pointedly
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| adv.尖地，明显地 | |
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technological
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| adj.技术的；工艺的 | |
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doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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symbolic
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| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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arsenal
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| n.兵工厂，军械库 | |
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ramped
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| 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 | |
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bluster
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| v.猛刮；怒冲冲的说；n.吓唬，怒号；狂风声 | |
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deteriorated
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| 恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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soviets
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| 苏维埃（Soviet的复数形式） | |
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substantive
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| adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体 | |
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