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23 布什与普京会面着重讨论导弹防御体系
Bush-Putin Summit to Focus on Missile Defense System
Larry James
Moscow
14 Jun 2001 20:13 UTC
U.S. President George Bush will be taking his case for a missile defense system to Ljubljana, Slovenia this Saturday when he holds his first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. There will be a host of other issues for the two men to discuss, including NATO expansion and 1)strained 2)bilateral ties caused by a spy 3)scandal this spring.
Vladimir Putin goes into his meeting with President Bush, in an 4)enviable position. His more than 70 percent approval rating with the Russian people means he can do pretty much as he wishes and not have to worry too much about the consequences.
Masha Lippman, an independent Russian journalist and political analyst, says not only does Mr. Putin enjoy broad support at home, he also benefits from a growing Russian 5)distaste for American policies. "As for the general impression, the general attitude to America in Russia, America is a country which imposes its own will on the whole world, America is a country which challenges Russia's image as a great country, America defies Russian will," she said. "This attitude has been building up for a while but the 6)turning point was the bombing of Yugoslavia when NATO and America first and 7)foremost went ahead with the bombing regardless of what Russia had to say, while Russia was against it."
It has not been hard for Vladimir Putin to start shifting Russia away from the dependence on the West, principally Washington, which characterized the Yeltsin years. Evidence of that was clear enough when Mr. Putin gave his state-of-the-nation address last April. In that speech he did not even mention the United States in the list of foreign policy objectives he wanted to pursue in the months ahead.
The Kremlin has had little to say about what Mr. Putin hopes to get out of the meeting, but most 8)analysts here believe it is no 9)coincidence that the Russian leader will be coming to Ljubljana directly from China.
For Victor Kremenyuk, deputy head of U.S.-Russian relations department at the USA-Canada Institute in Moscow, that fact is a clear 10)signal from Mr. Putin that Russia wants more balanced ties between East and West. "Somewhat earlier this year when he was asked about his foreign policy goals, he said I want to balance my foreign policy," said Mr. Kremenyuk. "That is to make it more balanced between the East and the West. And I think he will just directly bring to Mr. Bush this balancing idea."
Most analysts believe the Bush-Putin meeting is important, not because of what it might 11)accomplish, but because it will lay the 12)framework for future U.S.-Russian relations.
Analyst Masha Lippman believes that no matter the issues that exist between the two countries, the 13)significance of the two leaders getting to know each other cannot be overlooked. "It is my firm belief that whatever the relations, whatever the reasons for a 14)deterioration of relations it is always important to have more contacts rather than less," she said. "To gain more understanding at a personal level. The fewer contacts, the lower the understanding and greater the potential for conflict."
The analysts agree it will be important for the two men to get to know each other better and that their meeting should be measured more in those terms than in 15)concrete results. In fact, Victor Kremenyuk believes it is critically important that 16)substantive issues are not discussed in any detail. "The worst case 17)scenario would be, from my point of view, if they try to attack some of the hottest issues like for example, missile defense," he said. "If they do it they may risk running immediately into 18)stumbling blocks, into a highly complicated situation, which will simply freeze the rest of the relationship for the time being."
So while Mr. Bush and Mr. Putin have much to talk about, this first meeting may not be the time to try to solve the outstanding issues between the two countries.
(1) strained[streInd]adj.紧张的, 矫饰的, 做作的
(2) bilateral[baI5lAtErEl]adj.有两面的, 双边的
(3) scandal[5skAnd(E)l]n.丑行,丑闻,诽谤
(4) enviable[5envIEb(E)l]adj.令人羡慕的, 可羡慕的
(5) distaste[dIs5teIst]n.讨厌, 嫌恶
(6) turning point n.转折点, 转向处
(7) foremost[5fC:mEJst]adj.(位置或时间)最先的, 最初的adv.首要地, 首先
(8) analyst[5AnElIst]n.分析家, 分解者
(9) coincidence[kEJIn5sIdEns]n.巧合, 同时发生或同时存在(尤指偶然)的事
(10) signal[5sI^n(E)l]n.信号adj.信号的v.发信号
(11) accomplish[E5kQmplIF]vt.完成, 达到, 实现
(12) framework[5freImw:k]n.构架, 框架, 结构
(13) significance[sI^5nIfIkEns]n.意义, 重要性
(14) deterioration n.变坏, 退化, 堕落
(15) concrete[5kRNkri:t]adj.具体的, 有形的
(16) substantive[5sQbstEntIv]adj.真实的, 有实质的, 大量的
(17) scenario[sI5nB:rIEJ]n.想定，游戏的关,或是某一特定情节
(18) stumble[5stQmb(E)l]v.绊倒, 使困惑,结结巴巴地说话n.绊倒, 错误
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