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乌克兰危机使奥巴马在华盛顿受到批评

As tensions and turmoil¹ escalate² in Ukraine, America’s response to the crisis is becoming an increasingly contentious³ issue in Washington.

随着乌克兰紧张和动乱局势升级，美国如何应对危机正成为华盛顿越来越有争议的问题。

Deadly clashes in Odessa point to a grim reality: with every passing day, Ukraine teeters closer to civil war between a pro-Western government in Kyiv and pro-Russian militias⁴ backed by Moscow.

敖德萨发生的致命冲突凸显了一个严峻的现实：乌克兰正在日趋接近基辅亲西方政府和受到莫斯科支持的亲俄民兵之间的内战。

A new round of U.S. sanctions targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle has not altered Moscow’s aggressive posture⁵ toward Ukraine, a fact noted⁶ by President Barack Obama’s critics in Washington.

美国针对俄罗斯总统普京核心圈人士的新一轮制裁并没有改变莫斯科对乌克兰咄咄逼人的态势，华盛顿批评奥巴马总统的人士指出了这一现实。

“President Obama talks tough about Vladimir Putin. But his actions have not gone far enough to change Putin’s calculation that the benefits of his aggression⁷ outweigh⁸ the costs,” said Republican Senator Marco Rubio.

共和党参议员马科·罗比欧说：“提起普京，奥巴马总统言辞激烈，但是他并没有采取足以改变普京关于侵略收获大于成本的预测。”

Last week, Senate Republicans introduced a bill that would subject Russian banks and other key economic sectors⁹ to U.S. penalties.

上星期，参议院共和党议员提出一项议案，要求美国把俄罗斯银行和其他关键经济部门作为制裁对象。

“Our economic well-being¹⁰ is deeply dependent on our national security. The problem is that President Obama does not seem to understand this. Instead of shaping world events, he has often simply reacted to them,” Rubio said.

罗比欧说： “我们的经济利益深深依赖于我们的国家安全，问题是奥巴马总统似乎不了解这一点。他不是引导世界局势的发展，而只是对事件作出反应。”

However, Obama is not ruling out elements of the Republican proposal.

不过，奥巴马总统并没有排除共和党人的建议。

“If Russia continues on its current course, we have a range of tools at our disposal, including sanctions that would target certain sectors of the Russian economy,” the president said.

他说： “如果俄罗斯继续一意孤行，我们有一系列措施可供选择，其中包括制裁俄罗斯经济的某些部门。”

But in a news conference with German Chancellor¹¹ Angela Merkel, Obama said he hopes diplomacy¹² will make further sanctions unnecessary.

但是在与德国首相默克尔举行的记者会上，奥巴马总统表示，他希望外交手段会让进一步制裁变得没有必要。

“Our hope is that we should not have to use them. We are not interested in punishing the Russian people. We do think that Mr. Putin and his leadership circle are taking bad decisions and unnecessary decisions and he needs to be dissuaded¹³ from his current course,” Obama said.

他说：“我们希望不必采取制裁手段，我们没有兴趣惩罚俄罗斯人民。我们确实认为普京总统和他的决策圈正在作出错误的、没有必要的决定，他需要受到劝阻，从而改变目前的策略。”

The crisis in Ukraine is but one source of friction¹⁴ in the foreign policy arena¹⁵ between the White House and its critics.

乌克兰危机并非白宫和批评人士在外交政策领域出现摩擦的唯一来源。

Many Republicans, and even some Democratic lawmakers, have urged a more robust¹⁶ U.S. response to the fighting in Syria, and are skeptical¹⁷ about the administration’s effort to limit Iran’s nuclear ambitions through diplomacy.

许多共和党人，甚至一些民主党议员也都敦促美国对于叙利亚骇人听闻的流血事件作出更强硬的回应，并对白宫行政当局通过外交手段限制伊朗核野心的做法表示怀疑。