经济学人下载:卡塔尔:特朗普治多哈(2)

A billion-dollar ransom would buy a lot of explosives.
10亿美元的赎金本可买很多炸药的。

The spat has split the Gulf Co-operation Council, hitherto a force for stability in an unstable region.
维护动荡的中东局势的海湾合作委员会因这些争论而分裂。

It may drive Qatar, as well as Kuwait and Oman, the other two members of the GCC, who pointedly declined to support the Saudi move, further into the arms of Iran.
这也会让曾经明确表态不支持沙特阿拉伯断交举措的科威特和阿曼（两国也是海湾合作委员会成员）投入伊朗的怀抱。

Tempers may eventually cool, but some observers worry that the price of Saudi Arabia backing down will be the muzzling of those pesky Al Jazeera journalists.
争论总是会缓和下来，但是旁观者们担心沙特阿拉伯反悔的代价会让半岛电视台烦人的记者们闭嘴。

Mr Trump's support for Saudi actions also damages America's credibility.
特朗普支持沙特的行为也损害了美国的信誉。

It suggests that, under him, the superpower can abandon its allies after a brief chat with their enemies.
因为这预示着超级大国在他的带领下，能在与对手进行简短交流之后，轻易地抛弃自己的盟友。

“During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar—look!” tweeted Mr Trump on June 6th.
特朗普6月6日发布推特说：“在我近期访问中东时，曾说不会再为激进的意识形态买账。领导人们都指着卡塔尔说，看。”

The sober foreign-policy types who cling on in his administration are scrambling to downplay such undiplomatic words and calm tempers.
特朗普政府中坚持清醒外交政策的政客们，都在争相淡化他的非外交辞令和冷酷的脾气。

Perhaps recognising his error, Mr Trump offered his services as a mediator the following day.
或许特朗普意识到了自己的错误，在第二天把美国形容成调停者。

Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt's autocratic president, has also decided that Mr Trump is an American leader who will let him persecute his enemies without hindrance.
埃及独裁总统Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi也说特朗普会允许本国处决自己的敌人。

On May 23rd, two days after the two men met and praised each other in Riyadh, Mr Sisi had a potential opponent arrested for allegedly making an indecent hand gesture at a rally five months earlier.
5月23日，也就是特朗普和Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi在利雅得见面，并相互称赞的两天后，Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi就将一位反对者以在五个月前的集会中做不雅手势为由逮捕。

On May 25th the government blocked access to the websites of Mada Masr, Egypt's leading liberal newspaper, and those of 20 other media outlets, including Al Jazeera and Huffpost Arabic.
5月25日，政府封锁了包括埃及重要的自由派报纸Mada Masr在内的20余家媒体，其中还有半岛电视台和阿拉伯版《赫芬顿邮报》。

In Bahrain the authorities killed five people and arrested 286 more in a raid on the home of a Shia cleric; shortly after that, they dissolved the main secular opposition party.
在巴林，政府突袭了一家什叶派牧师的家，逮捕人数超过286人，造成5人丧生，不久之后，他们又解散了主要的世俗反对党。

America would once have objected to all this.
美国曾经是可以反对这些的。

No longer—and that is a recipe for a less stable Middle East.
但是他们没有，这也是表示他们愿意看到一个更加动荡的中东。