美国国家公共电台 NPR Thanks To Russia, 2016 Isn't Really Going To End For Obama And Trump

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST: 

I guess we should get used to saying this. President-elect Donald Trump¹ complimented Vladimir Putin on Friday. He said in a tweet, quote, "I always knew he was very smart." Trump was referring to Putin's decision not to sanction the U.S. after President Obama announced new sanctions against Russia and said that he would expel 35 Russian diplomats². NPR's Ron Elving joins us. Ron, thanks so much for being with us.

RON ELVING, BYLINE³: Good to be with you, Scott.

SIMON: Did Donald Trump clear up any doubts anyone might have had about how he views Vladimir Putin and Russia?

ELVING: The bromance continues, if that's what you mean. There do seem to be a lot of questions, though, about what this is really all about and whether it really is some sort of flirtation⁴ between these two leaders. Why does Trump seem to go out of his way to flatter Putin, to take the Russian point of view against that of the entire U.S. intelligence community? With respect to the Russian hacking⁵ of the campaign, the intelligence community says it was clearly them. Many of them say that they were doing it to help Donald Trump get elected. He rejects all of that. Some ask if this has to do with business relationships that might be deep in those unglimpsed (ph) tax returns. But others say he just wants to shake up all the old assumptions about who our friends and enemies really are in the world and use the uncertainty⁶ to cut some better deals and forge some more productive alliances.

SIMON: Senator John McCain on Friday said the Russian hacks⁷ are an act of war. There are a lot of Republicans and Democrats⁸ who don't, obviously, share Trump's admiring view of Putin. Where does this leave the Congress in what looks like it might be the first major foreign policy question for the new administration?

ELVING: The new Congress is sworn in on Tuesday. McCain has a hearing in his armed services committee on Thursday. So he wants to go right after this right away. Then, there will be hearings in the Senate Intelligence Committee. And there are a lot of Democrats and, certainly McCain, who would like to have a select committee. That's the kind we had for Watergate in the '70s or Iran-Contra in the '80s, but that does not appear to be happening. The leadership does not want to make that commitment. They have an agenda. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, in particular has said that he thinks the regular committees can handle it. And he and Speaker Paul Ryan over in the House have a big, long agenda of Republican issues, conservative issues that they want to get to, from repealing⁹ Obamacare to changing the tax code, and they don't want to see the media spotlight¹⁰ go somewhere else.

SIMON: Ron, the U.S. has done this before - impose sanctions on Russia, and Russia ran the table in Syria. They haven't loosened their grip on Crimea. Putin says they haven't suffered economically because of sanctions. So are these new sanctions and tossing out the diplomats just for show?

ELVING: We should say this is a multi-level chess game, and we can only see the top level - the overt¹¹ actions, not the covert¹². But these diplomatic measures that we can see do seem like gestures, really, only. And economic sanctions are the real deal. Russia has suffered economically in recent years from sanctions. They do hate those sanctions. But, of course, what they really hate is low oil prices.

SIMON: Has the Obama administration been late to recognize the threat from Russia?

ELVING: Perhaps not to recognize the threat but slow to get serious about it. After the Crimea sanctions, there were lots of other provocations¹³, Syria being the worst, Obama clearly not willing to go to war in Syria. So Russia has had something of a free field of fire as it were. But as far as the cyberhacking of this election campaign, the administration did sound the alarm last fall, but they did not go to the mat, in part, because they didn't want to appear to be interfering¹⁴ with the election themselves. And let's face it, they thought Hillary Clinton was going to win anyway.

SIMON: Ron, this was the administration that said we needed to do a reset¹⁵ with Russia. What happened?

ELVING: President Obama and his first secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, believed that his coming to office, and the departure of George W. Bush and the shelving of the Iraq War, if you will, at least for the moment, in 2009, was going to be a reset with everyone and that we could deal with the Russians on a new basis with a new set of personalities¹⁶. That is, perhaps, what every administration thinks when it first comes to power, and then, the years of reality set in - certainly as they have for the last eight. Now, we have a new president who deeply believes that he can redefine the relationship not only with Vladimir Putin but with Russia more generally. We shall see.

SIMON: NPR's Ron Elving, thanks so much.

ELVING: Thank you, Scott.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 flirtation   

n.调情，调戏，挑逗

参考例句：

• a brief and unsuccessful flirtation with the property market 对房地产市场一时兴起、并不成功的介入
• At recess Tom continued his flirtation with Amy with jubilant self-satisfaction. 课间休息的时候，汤姆继续和艾美逗乐，一副得意洋洋、心满意足的样子。 来自英汉文学 - 汤姆历险

5 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

6 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

7 hacks   

黑客

参考例句：

• But there are hacks who take advantage of people like Teddy. 但有些无赖会占类似泰迪的人的便宜。 来自电影对白
• I want those two hacks back here, right now. 我要那两个雇工回到这儿，现在就回。 来自互联网

8 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》

9 repealing   

撤销，废除( repeal的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• In addition, repealing the alternative minimum tax would also help. 此外，废除替代性最低税也会有所帮助。
• Repealing the investment tax credit. 取消投资税款扣除。

10 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

11 overt   

adj.公开的，明显的，公然的

参考例句：

• His opponent's intention is quite overt.他的对手的意图很明显。
• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。

12 covert   

adj.隐藏的；暗地里的

参考例句：

• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。
• The army carried out covert surveillance of the building for several months.军队对这座建筑物进行了数月的秘密监视。

13 provocations   

n.挑衅( provocation的名词复数 )；激怒；刺激；愤怒的原因

参考例句：

• We cannot ignore such provocations. 对于这种挑衅，我们不能置之不理。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They must immediately cease all their provocations. 他们必须停止一切挑衅。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

15 reset   

v.重新安排，复位；n.重新放置；重放之物

参考例句：

• As soon as you arrive at your destination,step out of the aircraft and reset your wristwatch.你一到达目的地，就走出飞机并重新设置手表时间。
• He is recovering from an operation to reset his arm.他做了一个手臂复位手术，正在恢复。

16 personalities   

n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There seemed to be a degree of personalities in her remarks.她话里有些人身攻击的成分。
• Personalities are not in good taste in general conversation.在一般的谈话中诽谤他人是不高尚的。