VOA标准英语2009年-Syria Profits from Regional Diplomatic Upheaval

Syria appears to be profiting from the recent Gaza conflict and is emerging from several years of diplomatic isolation¹ to become a key player, again, in the Middle East's diplomatic arena². President Bashar al-Assad's support for Hamas is bringing Syria extra clout³ in the aftermath of an inconclusive conflict, which has diplomats⁴ scrambling⁵ to find a resolution.
　
A Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) photo of Pres. Bashar al-Assad heading a meeting in Damascus, 02 Feb 2009

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has won a newfound popularity with the Arab "man in the street" for his recent stand in support of Hamas, as this recent pop-tune called "Bashar the Lion" reveals.

Hamas' top leader, Khaled Meshaal, along with other key Palestinian opposition⁶ figures, is based in Syria, giving the country extra muscle in diplomatic negotiations⁸.

Syria's political and logistical support for Hamas, along with Lebanon's Hezbollah, won kudos⁹ with the Arab public, and has European and Arab diplomats knocking on Syria's door.

President Assad's fiery¹⁰ speech last month at an emergency Arab summit in Qatar, drew applause in the Arab press after he decried¹¹ Israel's military operation in Gaza, and called for revenge.

He said, "Arabs are a people with a long memory and will be sure to remind our children of the 'massacre¹²' in Gaza" ... President Assad said Arabs will preserve pictures of the children of Gaza, spattered with blood and maimed and will teach the Israelis about an "eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" ... And he said that what was taken by force can only be returned by force.

Gaza a Political Win for Damascus

Syrian political analyst¹³ Marwan Kabalan insisted Damascus stands to reap a political windfall from its position in supporting Hamas.

He argued that in Gaza there was an oppressed people, and Syria took their side, so necessarily it will reap the popular and regional gains ... For now, Kabalan concluded that everyone on the side of the 'resistance' in the Arab world has been strengthened ... and that it has become imperative¹⁴ to negotiate with Syria.
　
Israeli army officers look toward Syria from an observation post in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights (file photo)

Syria's exact position towards negotiating with Israel remains¹⁵ murky¹⁶, after President Assad pronounced the 2002 Arab peace initiative towards Israel "clinically dead," following months of indirect talks with the Jewish state using Turkish mediation¹⁸.

Arab states, President Assad said, must retaliate¹⁹ by closing Israeli embassies and boycotting²⁰ Israeli products, and Syria has also cut off indirect talks with Israel, indefinitely. The 2002 peace initiative, Mr. Assad added, is dead and buried because Arab concessions²² have repeatedly been met by Israeli arrogance²³.

Professor Fouad Ajami of Johns Hopkins' School for Advanced International Studies believes Syria cleverly exploits its ambiguous political position towards Israel.

Sitting on the Fence

"But the Syrians, in a way, they are the perfect fence-sitters. They swing both ways. They can swing with Egypt and Saudi Arabia and be a status-quo player or they can swing the other way, and I think increasingly they have joined the opposition. I mean, they have joined the renegades, but they are very careful, because they are shrewd enough that they know that a ride with the renegade is very dangerous, so I think they are both brutal²⁴ and smart," he said.

A Role for President Obama

University of Oklahoma Professor Joshua Landis, who runs the well-known Syria Comment website, painted a dire¹⁷ picture of Syria and the Arab's strategic positions, suggesting that Damascus wants the new Barack Obama administration to step in and save the situation.
　
US Pres. Barack Obama speaks to reporters during a meeting with Democratic and Republican leaders at the White House on 23 Jan 2009

"There has been an outpouring among Western analysts²⁵, and analysts in the region, of analysis claiming that Barack Obama cannot fix the Arab-Israeli conflict, that it is too late, the Palestinians have lost. The Gaza invasion punctuates²⁶ this loss, that the likely winner of the elections in Israel will be [Benjamin] Netanyahu, who does not believe in a two-state solution, who wants to expand settlements ... So, that leaves Syria," he said.

So, if peace is impossible, where can you actually do something that will be a success rather than just managing a disaster? And that is Syria, and everybody agrees that Syria is pragmatic and that Syria will do a deal," he added.

The Message from Mr. Assad

Professor Landis thinks that President Assad wants to strike a global bargain with the new U.S. president, but is demanding guarantees and concessions, before he will make any himself.

"[Assad] has got a dual²⁷ message: there will be no more direct Syrian-Israel negotiation⁷, unless America steps in and offers some guarantees. In many ways, Western analysts believe that they have scared the Arab world. They have shown that they can thrash them, and therefore they want concessions out of the Arabs before they will go to peace talks, and the West wants Syria to make Hamas renounce²⁸ its violence and to accept overtly²⁹ the State of Israel. You see, it is about who won, and the Arabs are saying that 'you did not win,' we are not going to make these concessions," said Landis.

The biggest concession²¹, according to Landis, is for the United States and President Obama to stop treating Syria as a "pariah³⁰ state," and to send a new U.S. ambassador to Damascus for the first time since 2005.

President Assad, Landis concluded, has Mr. Obama "over a barrel," because the only place the new administration can make progress towards peace is in Syria, and Damascus has a price for making that happen.

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 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

3 clout   

n.用手猛击；权力，影响力

参考例句：

• The queen may have privilege but she has no real political clout.女王有特权，但无真正的政治影响力。
• He gave the little boy a clout on the head.他在那小男孩的头部打了一下。

4 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》

5 scrambling   

v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Scrambling up her hair, she darted out of the house. 她匆忙扎起头发，冲出房去。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• She is scrambling eggs. 她正在炒蛋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

7 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

8 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

9 kudos   

n.荣誉，名声

参考例句：

• He received kudos from everyone on his performance.他的表演受到大家的称赞。
• It will acquire no kudos for translating its inner doubts into hesitation.如果由于内心疑虑不安而在行动上举棋不定，是得不到荣誉的。

10 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

11 decried   

v.公开反对，谴责( decry的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The measures were decried as useless. 这些措施受到指责，说是不起作用。
• The old poet decried the mediocrity of today's writing. 老诗人抨击了现代文体的平庸无奇。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

12 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

13 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

14 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

15 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

16 murky   

adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗

参考例句：

• She threw it into the river's murky depths.她把它扔进了混浊的河水深处。
• She had a decidedly murky past.她的历史背景令人捉摸不透。

17 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

18 mediation   

n.调解

参考例句：

• The dispute was settled by mediation of the third country. 这场争端通过第三国的斡旋而得以解决。
• The dispute was settled by mediation. 经调解使争端得以解决。

19 retaliate   

v.报复，反击

参考例句：

• He sought every opportunity to retaliate against his enemy.他找机会向他的敌人反击。
• It is strictly forbidden to retaliate against the quality inspectors.严禁对质量检验人员进行打击报复。

20 boycotting   

抵制，拒绝参加( boycott的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They're boycotting the shop because the people there are on strike. 他们抵制那家商店，因为那里的店员在罢工。
• The main opposition parties are boycotting the elections. 主要反对党都抵制此次选举。

21 concession   

n.让步，妥协；特许(权)

参考例句：

• We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
• That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。

22 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

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

23 arrogance   

n.傲慢，自大

参考例句：

• His arrogance comes out in every speech he makes.他每次讲话都表现得骄傲自大。
• Arrogance arrested his progress.骄傲阻碍了他的进步。

24 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

25 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

26 punctuates   

v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的第三人称单数 )；不时打断某事物

参考例句：

27 dual   

adj.双的；二重的，二元的

参考例句：

• The people's Republic of China does not recognize dual nationality for any Chinese national.中华人民共和国不承认中国公民具有双重国籍。
• He has dual role as composer and conductor.他兼作曲家及指挥的双重身分。

28 renounce   

v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系

参考例句：

• She decided to renounce the world and enter a convent.她决定弃绝尘世去当修女。
• It was painful for him to renounce his son.宣布与儿子脱离关系对他来说是很痛苦的。

29 overtly   

ad.公开地

参考例句：

• There were some overtly erotic scenes in the film. 影片中有一些公开色情场面。
• Nietzsche rejected God's law and wrote some overtly blasphemous things. 尼采拒绝上帝的律法，并且写了一些渎神的作品。

30 pariah   

n.被社会抛弃者

参考例句：

• Shortly Tom came upon the juvenile pariah of the village.不一会儿，汤姆碰上了村里的少年弃儿。
• His landlady had treated him like a dangerous criminal,a pariah.房东太太对待他就像对待危险的罪犯、对待社会弃儿一样。