2015年经济学人 国外的巴尔干战士 为正义而战

Balkan warriors¹ abroad

Fight the good fight

With the Western Balkans at peace, some go abroad to look for war

FROM the Sea of Azov to Aleppo, fighters from the western Balkans are at war.

So worried are their governments that laws have been passed to make fighting abroad illegal, and their security services co-operate with foreign ones to monitor them.

The numbers are small, but the Balkans looms² relatively³ large on foreign battlefields.

Orthodox Christian⁴ Serbs are joining pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine while Catholic Croats fight on Ukraine's side.

Muslim Albanians, Bosniaks and Muslims from Sandzak, the area straddling Serbia and Montenegro, have gone to fight inIraq and Syria.

All spread their messages online and send greetings to one another.

Last month two gloating Croats speaking on YouTube said “Hope to see you soon!” to their Serb “friends”.

For Serbs and Croats, this war is a replay of their own conflict in the 1990s as much as an adventure or crusade.

Recently Serbs in eastern Ukraine have been more taken up with their internal conflicts.

The highest-profile Serb in eastern Ukraine is Radomir Pocuca, once a spokesman for Serbia's interior ministry⁵.

Last month he was captured by other Serb fighters. He was humiliated⁶ by pictures on Facebook of him bound and blindfolded⁷,

wearing a shirt emblazoned with a Serbian flag and the motto “Serbian Honour”.

Many Serbs are affiliated⁸ to small ultranationalist groups. They loathe⁹ their government, hate the European Union and are against joining NATO.

They believe they are fighting a Christian fight. In this they are like the Croats who have joined Ukraine's Azov Battalion¹⁰, a unit notorious for its neo-Nazi symbol that has attracted volunteers from the far right across Europe.

Although they get much attention, says Kacper Rekawek, a Polish researcher, there are relatively few foreigners in Ukraine, other than Russians.

He reckons about 300 fighters have passed through on each side. But with up to 100 Serbs having fought for the rebels, they have been among the biggest group of foreigners.

Croats, with 25-odd fighters, have been the third-largest foreign contingent¹¹ on Ukraine's side.

In Syria and Iraqthe numbers are a lot bigger. Shpend Kursani, author of a report on Kosovars fighting there, says he has identified 232.

There have been 330 Bosnians, 90 Albanians, 70 Serbians and 12 Macedonians.

The leader of the Albanian contingent in Islamic State is Lavdrim Muhaxheri who, one returned member told Mr Kursani, is obsessed¹² with his ratings on social media.

Mr Muhaxheri has made one video in which he beheads an Iraqi captive.

Mr Kursani finds that, when jihadists are counted as a percentage of countries' populations, Kosovo is top of a list of 22 countries,Bosnia second and Albania fourth.

As a percentage of Muslims in each country, though, Kosovo comes 14th, between Germany and Spain. Bosniais 11th and Albania 20th.

The top nine countries are west European.

According to Mr Kursani, most Kosovars in Syria are from rural areas and poorly educated. Nearly two-fifths have criminal records.

Some 34 are known to have been killed. Contrary to popular belief, which blames Saudi influence,

Mr Kursani finds that the fighters have been motivated by the Takfiri ideology¹³, which has been spreading recently into Kosovo through Albanian imams living in Macedonia, who first embraced it in Egypt.

Most fighters face arrest when they return (though not in Croatia, where fighting in foreign wars is not outlawed).

This may be why fewer are going now. Balkan governments want neither extreme nationalists nor violent Islamists causing trouble.

What is striking is the degree to which, apart from their religions, most Balkan fighters are so broadly united: against liberalism and the West.

1 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

2 looms   

n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• All were busily engaged,men at their ploughs,women at their looms. 大家都很忙，男的耕田，女的织布。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The factory has twenty-five looms. 那家工厂有25台织布机。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

6 humiliated   

感到羞愧的

参考例句：

• Parents are humiliated if their children behave badly when guests are present. 子女在客人面前举止失当，父母也失体面。
• He was ashamed and bitterly humiliated. 他感到羞耻，丢尽了面子。

7 blindfolded   

v.（尤指用布）挡住（某人）的视线( blindfold的过去式 )；蒙住（某人）的眼睛；使不理解；蒙骗

参考例句：

• The hostages were tied up and blindfolded. 人质被捆绑起来并蒙上了眼睛。
• They were each blindfolded with big red handkerchiefs. 他们每个人的眼睛都被一块红色大手巾蒙住了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 affiliated   

adj. 附属的, 有关连的

参考例句：

• The hospital is affiliated with the local university. 这家医院附属于当地大学。
• All affiliated members can vote. 所有隶属成员都有投票权。

9 loathe   

v.厌恶，嫌恶

参考例句：

• I loathe the smell of burning rubber.我厌恶燃着的橡胶散发的气味。
• You loathe the smell of greasy food when you are seasick.当你晕船时，你会厌恶油腻的气味。

10 battalion   

n.营；部队；大队(的人)

参考例句：

• The town was garrisoned by a battalion.该镇由一营士兵驻守。
• At the end of the drill parade,the battalion fell out.操练之后，队伍解散了。

11 contingent   

adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队

参考例句：

• The contingent marched in the direction of the Western Hills.队伍朝西山的方向前进。
• Whether or not we arrive on time is contingent on the weather.我们是否按时到达要视天气情况而定。

12 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

13 ideology   

n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识

参考例句：

• The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。
• The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。