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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Our first stop today is in Brussels. It's the capital of Belgium. It's also where you'd find the headquarters of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's an alliance of 28 countries, mostly from Europe, plus Canada and the U.S. It was formed in 1949 as a way to counterbalance the military might of the Soviet1 Union.
The alliance is based on collective defense2, an attack on one NATO member is considered an attack on all of them, and that was invoked3 once in 2001 after the September 11th terrorist attacks on the U.S. Troops from other NATO members served in the resulting war in Afghanistan.
But there's a sore spot between the U.S. and NATO. Alliance members agree to spent spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product on their militaries. It's a guideline they're not penalized4 if they don't.
But America has consistently met that target while most other NATO countries haven't. President Donald Trump5 brought this up yesterday on his visit to Brussels.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they are supposed to be paying for their defense.
AZUZ: NATO's website says the organization as a whole does over-rely on the U.S. for providing some of NATO's essential military capabilities6 and President Trump's comments likely troubled some NATO leaders partly because he's questioned NATO's effectiveness in the past, and partly because he didn't promise yesterday that the U.S. would stick to its NATO commitments.
SUBTITLE7: Explaining the controversy8 around NATO funding.
NICOLE GAOUETTE, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: It's been a problem for decades, I would say 20, 30 years.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Many U.S. presidents have talked about NATO members meeting to take on more of the burden.
JOHN KIRBY, CNN DIPLOMATIC AND MILITARY ANALYST9: President Trump wouldn't be the first president that has tried to do this. President Obama made the case, as did President Bush before him.
GAOUETTE: There was a breakthrough in 2014 at a summit in Wales. But there are other factors. In 2014, we saw the rise of ISIS and we also saw Russia and Vladimir Putin moving into Ukraine and annexing10 Crimea. And those things really, really scared people in Europe. It was a huge incentive11 to spend more so that they can defend themselves.
KIRBY: It's a struggle because many European countries are having their own domestic economic woes12 that are limiting their ability to spend on defense.
LABOTT: President Trump has really made this a cornerstone of his campaign certainly and now of his foreign policy, and has even threatening to withdraw from the alliance if the U.S. — if other countries don't pay more.
GAOUETTE: I think he has put the fear to some countries, with a lot of his rhetoric13 during the campaign. He was very equivocal about whether the U.S. needs NATO. And I think that unsettled people.
KIRBY: His bellicose14 nature has certainly reignited the flame, but that flame was already burning.
LABOTT: NATO members are willing to pay more and they are coming up with plans to lay out an outline for how they're going to pay more. The U.S. wants them to commit to a 10-year plan. A lot of countries aren't ready to do that.
KIRBY: It's going to be a constant balancing act for them and quite frankly15 for the Trump administration going forward.
1 Soviet | |
adj.苏联的,苏维埃的;n.苏维埃 | |
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2 defense | |
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩 | |
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3 invoked | |
v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 );行使(权利等);祈求救助;恳求 | |
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4 penalized | |
对…予以惩罚( penalize的过去式和过去分词 ); 使处于不利地位 | |
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5 trump | |
n.王牌,法宝;v.打出王牌,吹喇叭 | |
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6 capabilities | |
n.能力( capability的名词复数 );可能;容量;[复数]潜在能力 | |
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7 subtitle | |
n.副题(书本中的),说明对白的字幕 | |
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8 controversy | |
n.争论,辩论,争吵 | |
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9 analyst | |
n.分析家,化验员;心理分析学家 | |
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10 annexing | |
并吞( annex的现在分词 ); 兼并; 强占; 并吞(国家、地区等) | |
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11 incentive | |
n.刺激;动力;鼓励;诱因;动机 | |
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12 woes | |
困境( woe的名词复数 ); 悲伤; 我好苦哇; 某人就要倒霉 | |
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13 rhetoric | |
n.修辞学,浮夸之言语 | |
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14 bellicose | |
adj.好战的;好争吵的 | |
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15 frankly | |
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说 | |
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