VOA新闻杂志2022--多数中东人认为西方对乌克兰的支持是不公平的表现

Many in Mideast See Western Support of Ukraine as Sign of Unfairness

Some Middle Eastern leaders say Western countries use one set of rules for the conflict in Ukraine and another for conflicts in the Middle East.

They say that, within days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Western countries punished Russia and supported Ukraine.

Russia quickly faced sanctions from individual countries and groups like the European Union. That means they placed financial and trade restrictions¹ on Russia meant to punish the country for its actions.

Many countries also welcomed Ukrainian refugees, and sent supportive messages to Ukraine's armed resistance.

But the actions in support of Ukraine have angered people across the Middle East. Many there see a double standard in how Western countries deal with international conflicts. A double standard is when a set of rules is enforced differently for one group than for another.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki spoke² about this feeling to a security meeting in Turkey earlier this month. He said: "We have seen every means we were told could not be activated³ for over 70 years deployed⁴ in less than seven days."

He called this: "Amazing hypocrisy⁵."

Middle East conflicts

The U.S.-led war in Iraq began in 2003. At the time, people in some nations considered the action an unlawful invasion of one state by another. Iraqis who fought the Americans were called terrorists in the news media. Refugees seeking to flee to the West were often turned away and treated as possible security threats.

Russia intervened in Syria's civil war to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2015. The move was denounced by many Western nations but there was little action. With Russia's help, Syria's forces destroyed cities leading to hunger and death.

Many thousands of Syrian refugees fled to Europe. Some died at sea or were turned back as nations struggled to deal with the mass migration⁶. Some considered the migrants security threats.

In Yemen, a Saudi-led coalition⁷ has been fighting Houthi rebels supported by Iran since 2015. The conflict has left 13 million people at risk of starvation. But stories of children starving have not brought continued international attention to that conflict.

Bruce Riedel formerly⁸ worked for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. National Security Council. He is now a member at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. He said that it was "understandable" that many in the Middle East see a double standard by the West.

Riedel said: "The United States and the United Kingdom have supported Saudi Arabia's seven-years-old war in Yemen, which created the world's worst humanitarian⁹ catastrophe¹⁰ in decades."

People around the world have sent Ukrainians supportive messages on social media. The have praised those who take up arms against an occupying army. But critics say that when Palestinians and Iraqis do what appears to be the same thing, they are called terrorists.

Aaron David Miller¹¹ is with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He said Middle East conflicts are complex. Ukraine's conflict is much clearer. There is a sense of wrongdoing. Russia is widely considered to have launched an aggressive war against its neighbor.

A similar situation happened in the Middle East when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. The U.S. answered by bringing together a military coalition including Arab states that drove out the Iraqi forces.

Elliott Abrams is with the Council on Foreign Relations. He was an advisor¹² to former President George W. Bush when a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq a second time in 2003. He said there is a difference between Ukrainians battling Russian invaders¹³ and rebels in Iraq who fought Americans.

"Iraqis who fought U.S. troops on behalf of Iran or ISIS were not freedom fighters," he said, talking about the Islamic State group. "Making these moral distinctions is not an act of hypocrisy."

But many in the Middle East saw hard treatment of Arab and Muslim migrants as unfair. They considered it proof that Western nations do not support human rights and values when it comes to their culture.

Many feel their suffering is taken less seriously because of the idea that the Middle East has always had violence. They believe that Western nations ignore their part in starting and continuing the Middle East's many long-term conflicts.

Ines Abdel Razek is a director for the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy¹⁴. She said, "There's this expectation, drawn¹⁵ from colonialism, that it's more normal for us to be killed, to grieve our families, than it is for the West."

Words in This Story

amaze – v. to surprise and sometimes confuse (someone) very much

hypocrisy – n. the behavior of people who do things that they tell other people not to do; behavior that does not agree with what someone claims to believe or feel

humanitarian – adj. connected with helping¹⁶ people who are suffering and improving the conditions that they are living in

catastrophe – n. a terrible disaster

decades – n. a period of 10 years

distinction – n. a noticeable difference between things or people

grieve – v. to feel or show grief or sadness

1 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

2 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

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

4 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

5 hypocrisy   

n.伪善，虚伪

参考例句：

• He railed against hypocrisy and greed.他痛斥伪善和贪婪的行为。
• He accused newspapers of hypocrisy in their treatment of the story.他指责了报纸在报道该新闻时的虚伪。

6 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

7 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

8 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

9 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

10 catastrophe   

n.大灾难，大祸

参考例句：

• I owe it to you that I survived the catastrophe.亏得你我才大难不死。
• This is a catastrophe beyond human control.这是一场人类无法控制的灾难。

11 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

12 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

13 invaders   

入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They prepared to repel the invaders. 他们准备赶走侵略军。
• The family has traced its ancestry to the Norman invaders. 这个家族将自己的世系追溯到诺曼征服者。

14 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

15 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

16 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。