VOA常速英语2008年-Failed, Weak States Threaten Global Security

By Brian Padden
Washington
07 April 2008
 

Failed and weak states are unable for various reasons to provide security and other basic services for their citizens. The Bush administration and a growing number of foreign policy experts say failed states pose a threat to world peace and security. But as VOA's Brian Padden reports, there are critics who argue that intervening in a failed state can do more harm than good.

Gul Khan was just a boy when his family left its village near Jalalabad to escape the war in Afghanistan. For more than 30 years, he lived in Pakistan because he says it was too dangerous to return. Today he is coming home.

"I am asking my brothers and villagers to come back to this village and this lovely country. If they come back, we can rebuild," he said.

While Gul Khan may feel safe to return home, foreign policy analysts¹ at the private Brookings Institution in the United States recently listed Afghanistan as a failed state. Brookings' weak-state index says that six years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan remains² plagued by slow reconstruction³, a weak central government, and war.

Democratic Congressman⁴ Adam Smith is a long-time advocate for international intervention⁵ in failing states on humanitarian⁶ grounds. He says Afghanistan exemplifies why collapsed⁷ states present a threat to the world.

"Afghanistan was a failed state where al-Qaida was able to find a safe haven⁸ and launch the 9/11 [September 11th, 2001] attacks against this country. If Afghanistan had not been a failed state, that would not have been a safe place for people like Osama bin⁹ Laden¹⁰ to go," said Smith.

Since the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001, the Bush administration, and many in the foreign policy establishment, have advocated intervention in failed states to save them. But critics say there are more important issues.

"The fact is that we could have dealt with the problem of al-Qaida." said Christopher Preble, foreign policy director at the Cato Institute, a libertarian research organization in Washington. He says the United States should focus on eliminating terrorist threats and not get entangled¹¹ in nation building.

"The majority have failed and those few that have succeeded have been extremely time consuming and costly¹². The whole notion of making, fixing failed states a core object of U.S. foreign policy to me is just fatally flawed," added Preble.

Not everyone agrees on what represents a failed state. But states break down for a variety of reasons - war, natural disaster, poverty and corruption¹³ among them. Fixing a country can require significant risk and commitment.

More than 140,000 U.N. peacekeepers are deployed¹⁴ in 20 countries around the world. Peacekeepers have been in Bosnia for more than 10 years.

The United States' protracted¹⁵ experience in Iraq has reminded the world that holding an election does not by itself create a secure, functioning democracy.

Ambassador John Herbst, the U.S. State Department's coordinator¹⁶ for reconstruction and stabilization¹⁷, says to help weak states like Iraq, his department has requested an additional $248 million to develop a civilian¹⁸ corps¹⁹ that includes engineers, health workers and city planners.

"I think the best thing to say is that we need to understand clearly as we enter an operation what the situation is, how long we should be expecting to stay, what we need to do in order to operate most efficiently²⁰ so that we can get our job done and leave," he said.

But there are limits to what even the most ardent²¹ intervention supporters think is possible. The Brookings Institution's report examined 141 countries and included Afghanistan, Iraq, and eight African countries in the top 10 weakest states.

It lists Somalia as the most collapsed state in the world, but Congressman Smith is not calling for a U.S.-led intervention there.

"That is tough," said Smith. "They are at the bottom of the heap. I think at some point when we see a failed state we simply have to focus on containment²²."

Smith says sometimes all the United States and the international community can do is try to keep the instability from spreading.

1 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

4 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

5 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

6 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

7 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

8 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。

9 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

10 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

11 entangled   

adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The bird had become entangled in the wire netting. 那只小鸟被铁丝网缠住了。
• Some military observers fear the US could get entangled in another war. 一些军事观察家担心美国会卷入另一场战争。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

13 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

14 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

15 protracted   

adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The war was protracted for four years. 战争拖延了四年。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We won victory through protracted struggle. 经过长期的斗争，我们取得了胜利。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

17 Stabilization   

稳定化

参考例句：

• The position of barycentre on plane directly impacts the stabilization and manipulation of plane. 飞机重心位置直接影响飞机的稳定和操纵特性。
• With the higher olefins, stabilization of the energetic intermediates occurs more easily. 在较高的烯烃情况下，高能的中间物稳定作用更易出现。

18 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

19 corps   

n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组

参考例句：

• The medical corps were cited for bravery in combat.医疗队由于在战场上的英勇表现而受嘉奖。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

20 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

21 ardent   

adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的

参考例句：

• He's an ardent supporter of the local football team.他是本地足球队的热情支持者。
• Ardent expectations were held by his parents for his college career.他父母对他的大学学习抱着殷切的期望。

22 containment   

n.阻止，遏制；容量

参考例句：

• Your list might include such things as cost containment,quality,or customer satisfaction.你的清单上应列有诸如成本控制、产品质量、客户满意程度等内容。
• Insularity and self-containment,it is argued,go hand in hand.他们争论说，心胸狭窄和自我封闭是并存的。