万花筒 Kaleidoscope 2007-10-28&10-29, 土耳其出兵伊拉克

The talk is of political and diplomatic negotiation¹ but this looks ominously² like the early deployment³ of an invading army. Heavy artillery⁴, convoys⁵ of trucks bringing supplies and soldiers as many as 100,000, it's believed. As well as helicopter gunships that crisscross the mountain ranges on the border of eastern Turkey and Iraq.

The Kurdish PKK's attacks on the Turkish military are designed to provoke an incursion, it may well happen, full invasion though seems unlikely at this stage.

It will not be a full-scale invasion of any kind. It will be raids against the PKK hideouts. It will be raids against PKK facilities maybe in northern Iraq but never would it be a full-scale invasion of any big territory of northern Iraq or the northern Iraqi cities.

At home the crowds are baying for action against the PKK, the politicians have put the legal framework in place authorizing⁶ an attack. But the government's under pressure from Washington, London and across the Middle East to step back from violence.

Northern Iraq is about the country's only stable and relatively⁷ prosperous region, conflict there would be bad news. Commentators⁸ say the West simply has to assist Turkey, an NATO ally in need.

The failure to tackle the PKK presence is basically pushing Turkey towards Syria and Iran. Syria and Iran ah, have been cooperating with Turkey in the fight against the PKK. The Syrian president was in Ankara last week, saying that Turkey has got any right to carry out an operation against the PKK. So in some way the West here is taking a huge risk of losing what has been a formidable ally in a very difficult neighbourhood for the past 50 years..

In northern Iraq even moderate Kurds with little heartfelt support for the PKK, are protesting at the possibility of the conflict developing here. In truth, the PKK's political popularity is waning⁹, that is why they are doing this, trying to draw Turkey into fighting Kurds and using this to reignite the public's support.

That's the problem facing Turkey ceasefire offers notwithstanding, they are being asked to show restraint. For each new attack the new military casualty makes that restraint harder to achieve day by day. Stuart Ramsay, Sky news.

Ominous: Threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
Crisscross: Cross in a pattern, often random
Heartfelt: earnest

1 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

2 ominously   

adv.恶兆地，不吉利地；预示地

参考例句：

• The wheels scooped up stones which hammered ominously under the car. 车轮搅起的石块，在车身下发出不吉祥的锤击声。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Mammy shook her head ominously. 嬷嬷不祥地摇着头。 来自飘（部分）

3 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。

4 artillery   

n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队)

参考例句：

• This is a heavy artillery piece.这是一门重炮。
• The artillery has more firepower than the infantry.炮兵火力比步兵大。

5 convoys   

n.（有护航的）船队( convoy的名词复数 )；车队；护航（队）；护送队

参考例句：

• Truck convoys often stop over for lunch here. 车队经常在这里停下来吃午饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A UN official said aid programs will be suspended until there's adequate protection for relief convoys. 一名联合国官员说将会暂停援助项目，直到援助车队能够得到充分的保护为止。 来自辞典例句

6 authorizing   

授权，批准，委托( authorize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Letters of Marque: Take letters from a warning friendly power authorizing privateering. 私掠许可证：从某一个国家获得合法抢劫的证书。
• Formal phavee completion does not include authorizing the subsequent phavee. 阶段的正式完成不包括核准随后的阶段。

7 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。

8 commentators   

n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员

参考例句：

• Sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 体育解说员翻来覆去说着同样的词语，真叫人腻烦。
• Television sports commentators repeat the same phrases ad nauseam. 电视体育解说员说来说去就是那么几句话，令人厌烦。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 waning   

adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• Her enthusiasm for the whole idea was waning rapidly. 她对整个想法的热情迅速冷淡了下来。
• The day is waning and the road is ending. 日暮途穷。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》