VOA常速英语2007-US, Russia Fail to Resolve Strategic Differences

By Peter Fedynsky
Moscow
12 October 2007

The U.S. secretaries of state and defense¹ and their Russian counterparts say experts from the two countries will seek to narrow differences over a series of strategic issues that the ministers failed to resolve during face to face talks in Moscow. VOA Correspondent Peter Fedynsky reports from the Russian capital.

The meeting itself did not resolve a range of difficult strategic issues that divide Russia and the United States.

One of the most difficult is Russia's continued opposition² to an American plan to deploy³ a missile defense system on Polish and Czech territory to guard against possible attack from Iran.

Russia sees the move as a threat, and insists Iran does not have a missile that could reach the United States. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said U.S. and Russian experts will seek to develop criteria⁴ to assess any Iranian threat. And, he expressed confidence that no missile defense system will be needed.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, however, said the U.S. will not freeze moves toward deployment⁵.

"The United States is engaged with discussions with our allies, and those will continue," said Rice. "We will work during this time to address Russian concerns about the nature of the system, about what is not yet a shared view of the missile threat. We believe we can address those concerns and are prepared to do it."

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates used the talks to again try to reassure⁶ Russia that it should not perceive the system as a threat, but Foreign Minister Lavrov did not budge⁷.

Minister Lavrov says Gates acknowledged Russian concerns of a potential threat from the system. He also repeated statements made by other Russian officials that his country will need to take steps to neutralize⁸ the threat.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with his foreign and defense ministers and the visiting U.S. secretaries before their talks. Mr. Putin warned that the Russian side may abandon the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with the United States, if other countries that have developed such weapons are not brought under its terms. When it was adopted in 1987, the so-called INF treaty prohibited medium range nuclear weapons, which only the former Soviet⁹ Union and the United States had at the time.

Secretary Gates expressed concern about Mr. Putin's threat to pull out of the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty in a dispute involving a Western demand for Russia to pull its troops out of Moldova and Georgia. This issue was not resolved at the talks, nor was the renewal¹⁰ of the START Treaty, an agreement to limit strategic missiles that expires in 2009.

While the Moscow meeting yielded no progress, Secretary Gates says, if both sides succeed in working together, it would mark a major strategic shift in relations.

The talks came ahead of President Putin's visit next week to Iran to attend the Caspian Sea Summit. Referring to Iran's nuclear program, Secretary Rice reiterated¹¹ the U.S. position that Washington will reverse 28 years of American policy and discuss anything Iran wishes to discuss, if Tehran suspends its nuclear enrichment.

Another so-called Two Plus Two meeting of the foreign and defense ministers of both countries is to be held in the United States in six months. In the meantime, U.S. and Russian experts will seek to narrow differences.

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 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。

3 deploy   

v.（军）散开成战斗队形，布置，展开

参考例句：

• The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
• The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

4 criteria   

n.标准

参考例句：

• The main criterion is value for money.主要的标准是钱要用得划算。
• There are strict criteria for inclusion in the competition.参赛的标准很严格。

5 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

6 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

7 budge   

v.移动一点儿；改变立场

参考例句：

• We tried to lift the rock but it wouldn't budge.我们试图把大石头抬起来，但它连动都没动一下。
• She wouldn't budge on the issue.她在这个问题上不肯让步。

8 neutralize   

v.使失效、抵消，使中和

参考例句：

• Nothing could neutralize its good effects.没有什么能抵消它所产生的好影响。
• Acids neutralize alkalis and vice versa.酸能使碱中和碱，亦能使酸中和。

9 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

10 renewal   

adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来

参考例句：

• Her contract is coming up for renewal in the autumn.她的合同秋天就应该续签了。
• Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。

11 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。