经济学人下载:下降星座-战神火星

It all made perfect sense, at the beginning

开始的时候，一切都很合理

The trouble is that Libya’s dictator has hung on—perhaps precisely because the superpower has chosen to stand back. And standing back has meanwhile not earned Mr Obama the political credit he hoped for. If anything, the opposite has happened.

问题在于利比亚的独裁者一直坚持到了现在，也许其原因正是美国这个超级大国决定靠边站。而靠边站也并未给奥巴马赢得所期望的政治筹码。而且，情况和他预计的恰恰相反。

The White House boasts that since early April America has had only a “non-kinetic”, “supporting” role in Libya. It has no troops on the ground and is not exchanging fire with hostile forces (unless you count the odd drone strike). That makes the war cheaper for America while allies do the dirtier work—the opposite of the dismal pattern in Afghanistan. This looked like a perfectly splendid arrangement, until one of Mr Obama’s advisers was quoted as describing it as “leading from behind”.

白宫宣称自4月初以来，美国在利比亚的行动属于“非动能战”，仅仅发挥“辅助”作用。美国没有派遣地面部队，没有和敌对势力交火（除非将偶尔的无人机袭击算上）。美国为这场战争花费的代价较小，主要的脏活都交给了盟国——和阿富汗的悲惨模式完全相反。看起来这种安排相当美妙，直到奥巴马的一个顾问被报道称美国“从背后领导”。

Such a phrase should never have been uttered in the hearing of a journalist. Since its publication in theNew Yorker, “leading from behind” has become a prime exhibit in the Republicans’ scornful excoriation of Mr Obama’s foreign policy. The president now finds himself accused of being both a warmonger for entering the war and a wimp for his lame prosecution of it.

这句话就不该当着记者的面说。自从《纽约客》刊登了这句话，“从背后领导”已成为共和党人轻蔑地抨击奥巴马对外政策时最主要的靶子。总统发现他一方面因为参与战争被指责为战争贩子，另一方面因为战争执行不力被称作窝囊废。