VOA标准英语 Medvedev Outlines Path to Better US-Russian Ties

The U.S. and Russia presidents are scheduled to meet for the first time Wednesday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in London. The new Kremlin leader comes to the meeting with a record of policy initiatives that have swung between belligerent¹ threats against the West to offers of cooperation with Washington.
　
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev (file)

Writing in The Washington Post on the eve of his first meeting with President Barack Obama, President Dmitri Medvedev says there are many possible areas of Russo-American cooperation. He says they include disarmament, Afghanistan and global finance.

But recently, Mr. Medvedev announced a strategic rearmament plan and offered Kyrgyzstan a $2 billion aid package that has complicated the U.S. supply effort in Afghanistan. Russia has also threatened to counter a proposed U.S. missile defense² system in Central Europe by stationing its own Iskander missiles, near Poland, and has refused to rule out the sale of ground-to-air missiles to Iran.

Fyodor Lukyanov, chief editor of Russia in Global Affairs, says Moscow's apparent policy swings represent an attempt to strengthen its position in the U.S.-Russia dialogue. Lukyanov says one of the contentious³ issues on the London agenda is likely to be the proposed American missile defense system in Central Europe. The Bush and Obama administrations have insisted the system is aimed at Iran, but Moscow perceives it as a threat to Russia.

Lukyanov says the Iskander deployment⁴ threat was a rhetorical warning, which no one really planned to carry out - all the more so because Central European deployment of the defense system does not appear to be an Obama administration priority for the coming years and will, therefore, lose focus as an issue.

Lukyanov says the question of Ukrainian and Georgian NATO membership - a matter of major concern to Moscow - can be diffused⁵ if the Obama administration downgrades priorities accorded to Kyiv and Tbilisi. He says the United States will never recognize a Russian sphere of influence in those countries.
　
Dmitri Trenin

Dmitri Trenin, the director of the Moscow Carnegie Center, notes that a majority of Ukrainians oppose membership in NATO. But he says many Ukrainians and others in Central Europe consider Russia to be a frequent historic aggressor, which NATO can defend against. Trenin says the Kremlin also creates mistrust in Ukraine, where - as he puts it -Russia is often its own worst enemy.

Trenin says he thinks official and semi-official Russian actions and words that question the stability of Ukraine, its borders, and the existence of the Ukrainian state do not strengthen the position of Russia, and in the final analysis do not lead to development of peaceful, civilized⁶ relations between the two countries.
　
Sergei Rogov

Sergei Rogov, the director of the USA-Canada Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, says the prospect⁷ of NATO missiles in Ukraine concerns Russia no less than Soviet⁸ missiles in Cuba nearly 50 years ago troubled the United States.

Rogov says Iran already has missiles that can reach Russian territory and notes Moscow does not want that country to get nuclear weapons, though he doubts Iran is developing them. He says Russia agrees with the United States on most Iranian issues, but was opposed to the Bush administration's call for economic sanctions against Tehran.

Though he insists Iran's nuclear program is for civilian⁹ purposes, Rogov notes the importance of a new U.S.-Russian Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, or START, to prevent nuclear arms proliferation, particularly in Iran and North Korea. The current START treaty - a 700-page document - expires in December.

Rogov expresses concern that President Obama's START team has not been organized, which means the U.S. does not yet have a negotiating position. He cautions that there are big and unprecedented¹⁰ problems in signing a new treaty within six months because of the complicated military and technical matters involved.

In recent months, Russian leaders have denounced what they say is a unipolar world dominated by the United States. Dmitri Trenin says this does not mean that Kremlin leaders have any illusions that Russia can match American military and economic power. Nonetheless, he says Russian leaders felt the Bush administration did not treat them as equals.

"At this time, Russian leaders would like more attention from President Obama and also more understanding of Russia's interests and its role in international affairs," Trenin said.

Russian observers expect the United States to downplay human rights issues.

Fyodor Lukyanov says the reason is the Obama administration has inherited many difficult problems and must take a pragmatic approach toward solving them. The observers say Presidents Obama and Medvedev also appear to be pragmatists who are not likely to develop the close personal ties that characterized relations between Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev or Bush and Putin.

1 belligerent   

adj.好战的，挑起战争的；n.交战国，交战者

参考例句：

• He had a belligerent aspect.他有种好斗的神色。
• Our government has forbidden exporting the petroleum to the belligerent countries.我们政府已经禁止向交战国输出石油。

2 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。

3 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

4 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。

5 diffused   

散布的，普及的，扩散的

参考例句：

• A drop of milk diffused in the water. 一滴牛奶在水中扩散开来。
• Gases and liquids diffused. 气体和液体慢慢混合了。

6 civilized   

a.有教养的，文雅的

参考例句：

• Racism is abhorrent to a civilized society. 文明社会憎恶种族主义。
• rising crime in our so-called civilized societies 在我们所谓文明社会中日益增多的犯罪行为

7 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

8 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。

9 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

10 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。