Another big hug另类热情拥抱
May 18th 2006 | CAIRO
From The Economist print edition

“THE United States is a damned country that deserves only to be cursed. It declares its own occupation of our lands legitimate, but brands our resistance as terrorists.” This was not the Libyan leader, Muammar Qaddafi, speaking 20 years ago, when his country was a pariah[1] and he was the butt[2] of international scorn. The words were spoken only last month, by the Libyan parliament's deputy speaker, Ahmed Ibrahim, at a g________① in Tripoli, Libya's capital, to commemorate its bombing by American aircraft in 1986.

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“美国是一个可恶的国家，理所当然应该受到诅咒。它口口声声说占领我们的国土是合法的，却诬蔑我们的抵抗力量是恐怖分子。”这不是利比亚领导人穆阿迈尔•卡扎菲20前说的，那个时候利比亚是一个世所不容的国家，卡扎菲也被国际间当作嘲弄的对象。这话出自利比亚国会发言人艾哈迈德•易布拉希姆之口，他上个月刚刚在利比亚首都的黎波里举行的一次集会上说了这番话。此次集会旨在纪念1986年美国飞机轰炸利比亚事件。
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Mr Ibrahim's stridency[3] was, perhaps, inspired by America's decision, in March, to keep Libya on its official list of state sponsors of terrorism, a dubious distinction it has held since 1979. All the more striking, then, that the American administration should have decided, this week, to restore full diplomatic relations.

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易布拉希姆的话之所以如此不中听，可能是因为今年3月美国决定继续将利比亚留在官方的“支持恐怖主义国家”名单中——从1979年以来，利比亚就一直享有此项有争议的“殊荣”。可接下来让人错愕不已的是，本周美国政府竟然决定全面恢复同利比亚的外交关系。
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In fact, the two countries have been edging closer for years—for reasons of pure realpolitik[4]. Mr Qaddafi's regime is certainly less bad than it was. It has not t________② anyone outside its own borders for a long time. It has opened its economy a crack to foreign investors, invited tourism and slightly lifted oppressive controls on its own citizens. （1）But none of those things matters as much to America as big oil, alliances in the fight against Islamist extremism and the scoring of points in the current stand-off[5] over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

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事实上，多年来两国已经越走越近——纯粹是因为强权政治。卡扎菲政权肯定要比过去有所改善，很久以来都未在本国领土以外进行过恐怖活动，经济上渐渐对外国投资者开放，并开始发展旅游事业，对本国公民的高压管控也有所放松。但是对于美国而言，这些都算不了什么。丰富的石油、结盟对抗伊斯兰极端主义以及在当前伊朗核危机僵局中赢得优势，才是美国真正想要的。（译者按：本句的主结构应该是“none of those things matters as much as……to America”，意为“对美国而言，比起……来，那些都无关紧要。”）
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Libya has the largest oil reserves in Africa, safely distant from the Persian Gulf, and has historically cosy[6] relations with American oil firms. More crucial to the Bush administration has been Libya's importance in countering al-Qaeda and its offshoots. （2）Mr Qaddafi's intelligence services, once feared as global troublemakers, are among the most ruthless in the region. Ever since Libya's leader was himself targeted for assassination by Muslim radicals (at least twice in the 1990s), he has been one of their keenest foes.