VOA标准英语2008年-Rice: Current Russian Policies Leading to Isola

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a stern policy speech, said current Russian policies including its invasion of Georgia, have put Moscow on a path to self-imposed isolation¹ and irrelevance². She said Moscow will not achieve its war aim of removing Georgia's pro-Western government. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.
　
Condoleezza Rice delivers policy speech on US-Russia relations in Washington, 18 Sept. 2008

Rice's address at an event hosted by the German Marshall Fund included some of her strongest comments to date about Russian intervention³ in Georgia and other recent behavior.

But at the same time, she stressed that U.S.-Russian tensions have not lapsed⁴ back to Cold War levels, and that the two powers have shared interests in, among other things, bringing peace to the Middle East, and preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Rice acknowledged that both sides in last month's Georgian crisis made mistakes and miscalculations, but she said Russian intervention - sparked by a Georgian military move into disputed South Ossetia - was a full-scale and apparently⁵ long-planned invasion.

What is more disturbing, she said, is that it fits into a pattern of behavior of a Russia increasingly authoritarian⁶ at home and aggressive abroad.

"I am referring, among other things, to Russia's intimidation⁷ of its sovereign neighbors, its use of oil and gas as a political weapon, its unilateral suspension of the CFE treaty, its threat to target peaceful nations with nuclear weapons, its arms sales to groups that threaten international security, and its persecution⁸ - and worse - of Russian journalists and dissidents, and others," she said.

Rice declared the Russian invasion has achieved, and will achieve, no enduring strategic objective - including what she said was Moscow's primary war aim of removing the pro-Western Georgian government of President Mikheil Saakashvili.

She said the goal of the United States and its allies must be to make clear to Russian leaders that their choices are putting the country on what she termed a one-way path to self imposed isolation and international irrelevance.

"Russia's international standing⁹ is worse now than at any time since 1991. And the cost of this self-inflicted isolation has been steep. Russia's civilian¹⁰ nuclear cooperation with the United States is not going anywhere now," she said. "Russia's leaders are imposing¹¹ pain on their nation's economy. Russia's bid to join the World Trade Organization is now in jeopardy¹². And so too is its attempt to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development."

In a note of sarcasm¹³, Rice said the political support Russia has gotten on Georgia from Nicaragua's leftist leader Daniel Ortega and the Palestinian radical¹⁴ group Hamas is hardly a diplomatic triumph. And she said anachronistic¹⁵ Russian displays of military power, such as its recent dispatch of Soviet-era Blackjack bombers¹⁶ to Venezuela, will not turn back the tide of history.

But she concluded her message with conciliatory language, stressing the Bush administration's determination to pursue areas of common concern with Russia - among them fighting terrorism, denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, and stopping Iran's rulers from obtaining the world's deadliest weapons.

A spokesman said Rice spoke¹⁷ by telephone before the speech with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov - only their second such conversation since the peak of the Georgian crisis.

Rice and Lavrov will meet on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly next week in multilateral meetings on the Middle East peace process and the Iranian nuclear issue.

 

1 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

2 irrelevance   

n.无关紧要；不相关；不相关的事物

参考例句：

• the irrelevance of the curriculum to children's daily life 课程与孩子们日常生活的脱节
• A President who identifies leadership with public opinion polls dooms himself to irrelevance. 一位总统如果把他的领导和民意测验投票结果等同起来，那么他注定将成为一个可有可无的人物。 来自辞典例句

3 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

4 lapsed   

adj.流失的，堕落的v.退步( lapse的过去式和过去分词 )；陷入；倒退；丧失

参考例句：

• He had lapsed into unconsciousness. 他陷入了昏迷状态。
• He soon lapsed into his previous bad habits. 他很快陷入以前的恶习中去。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

7 intimidation   

n.恐吓，威胁

参考例句：

• The Opposition alleged voter intimidation by the army.反对党声称投票者受到军方的恐吓。
• The gang silenced witnesses by intimidation.恶帮用恐吓的手段使得证人不敢说话。

8 persecution   

n. 迫害,烦扰

参考例句：

• He had fled from France at the time of the persecution. 他在大迫害时期逃离了法国。
• Their persecution only serves to arouse the opposition of the people. 他们的迫害只激起人民对他们的反抗。

9 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。

10 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

11 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

12 jeopardy   

n.危险；危难

参考例句：

• His foolish behaviour may put his whole future in jeopardy.他愚蠢的行为可能毁了他一生的前程。
• It is precisely at this juncture that the boss finds himself in double jeopardy.恰恰在这个关键时刻，上司发现自己处于进退两难的境地。

13 sarcasm   

n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic）

参考例句：

• His sarcasm hurt her feelings.他的讽刺伤害了她的感情。
• She was given to using bitter sarcasm.她惯于用尖酸刻薄语言挖苦人。

14 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

15 anachronistic   

adj.时代错误的

参考例句：

• In remembering historic events,the mistake you tend to make is anachronistic.在记历史事件时，你容易犯的错误是时代错误。
• English public schools are anachronistic.英国的公立学校已经落伍过时了。

16 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 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。