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米国に、ソ連の再来を見た
国連を無視する米国の態度を見て思い出したのは、ブレジネフ時代のソビエト連邦のことだった。
The new USSR
I made my first trip to the Soviet Union in the summer of 1964 ... an age ago. It was a country that now seems like a place out of a twisted fairytale. Its leader was First Secretary of the Communist Party Nikita Khrushchev.
In the autumn of that year I embarked on a course known as Russian Area Studies.
In October Khrushchev was dismissed from his duties and Leonid Brezhnev became first secretary and de facto leader of the world's second superpower.
In those days we who studied the USSR were taught to view it as a stubbornly obstructionist state. When the U.N. Security Council grew close to agreement on one issue or another, the representative of the Soviet Union, with raised hand and scowling grimace, often voted Nyet. My professors told me that only the Soviets abrogated treaties, which they considered merely to be expedient deals to be tossed aside when no longer useful to their ends of world domination.
By the 1970s, when Brezhnev had consolidated power, the economy was stagnating and the environment deteriorating from cynical neglect. He needed something to turn the attention of his people away from domestic corruption and decay. That something was the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan. The military victory was swift, and the Brezhnev Doctrine came to life with the triumph: the USSR had bestowed upon itself "the right" to liberate countries where its leader, in this case Brezhnev, deemed democracy threatened.
The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan lasted for more than nine years, ending in defeat, humiliation and disgrace. The Brezhnev Doctrine proved to be no more than a cover-up for personal greed and national ambition. The similarities with what has occurred this year in the United States and Iraq are striking.
It is the United States that is now the one blocking the will of the United Nations with bullying and devious rhetoric. Listening to the speeches of America's U.N. ambassador, John D. Negroponte, reminds me of Anatoly Dobrynin, the USSR's ambassador to the United Nations who strove to justify his country's shifty intentions.
It is now the United States under George W. Bush that abrogates treaties when they no longer are considered useful to powerful interests in the country. It is Bush's America that turns its back on pressing environmental issues so that favored companies can loot nature. And it is America that has forged a doctrine of intervention "to liberate" countries where its leader, in this case Bush, deems democracy threatened.
The USA is the new USSR.The moralistic self-justification, the beautiful words defiled by ugly action, the dismissal of any advice that is not fawning compliance. All of this is reminiscent of what we used to call "Soviet reality."
In the end the Brezhnev Doctrine was unmasked for what it was. The Bush Doctrine will certainly meet a similar fate. The handwriting is on the wall, in bold indelible strokes, for this administration. The only difference now is that "your days are numbered" is written not in Russian but in American English.
Shukan ST: Oct. 24, 2003
(C) All rights reserved
- USSR
- ソビエト社会主義共和国連邦(=Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)
- an age ago
- 一昔前に
- out of a twisted fairytale
- 奇怪なおとぎ話に出てくるような
- First Secretary of the Communist Party Nikita Khrushchev
- ソ連共産党第一書記ニキタ・フルシチョフ
- embarked on 〜
- 〜に着手した
- was dismissed from his duties
- 職務を解かれた
- de facto
- 事実上の
- stubbornly obstructionist state
- 頑固に議事進行を妨害する国
- U.N. Security Council
- 国連安保理
- scowling grimace
- しかめっ面
- voted Nyet
- 拒否権を発動した(Nyetはロシア語のno)
- abrogated
- 廃棄した
- expedient deals to be tossed aside
- 捨ててかまわない便宜的な取り決め
- ends
- 目的
- domination
- 支配
- had consolidated power
- 権力を強固なものとした
- was stagnating
- 沈滞した
- deteriorating
- 悪化した
- cynical
- 冷笑的な
- neglect
- 無為無策
- corruption
- 腐敗
- decay
- 堕落
- That something was 〜
- その「何か」が〜だった
- had bestowed upon 〜
- 〜に与えた
- deemed democracy threatened
- 民主主義が脅威にさらされていると見なした
- defeat, humiliation and disgrace
- 敗北と屈辱と不名誉
- cover-up
- 隠れみの
- greed
- 欲望
- are striking
- 注目に値する
- bullying and devious rhetoric
- 威圧的な態度とうさん臭いレトリック
- strove to justify 〜
- 〜を正当化しようと努めた
- shifty
- ずる賢い
- turns its back on 〜
- 〜を無視する
- loot 〜
- 〜を荒らす
- has forged 〜
- 〜を作った
- moralistic
- 勧善懲悪の
- self-justification
- 自己正当化
- defiled by 〜
- 〜で汚された
- dismissal
- 却下
- 〜 that is not fawning compliance
- こびて追従しない〜
- is reminiscent of 〜
- 〜を思い出させる
- was unmasked for what it was
- 正体を暴露された
- handwriting is on the wall
- 不吉な前兆はすでにある
- in bold indelible strokes
- 極めてはっきりと
- "your days are numbered"
- 「君ももうお終いだ」