跟牛津學霸約翰遜學寫作:對普京阿諛奉承的跟班 塔克·卡爾森

鮑裏斯·約翰遜:普京對阿諛奉承的跟班塔克·卡爾森的采訪完全是希特勒的劇本。我祈禱美國人看穿這種邪惡的把戲

約翰遜的文章緊湊犀利,讓我們領略到語言的魅力。我在後麵的英語部分做一些評論。

鮑裏斯·約翰遜,《每日郵報》

2024 年 2 月 9 日

當塔克·卡爾森前往克裏姆林宮時,他履行了曆史上眾所周知的職責。他將成為暴君的走狗、獨裁者的錄音機和新聞業的叛徒。

在他因獲得“獨家新聞”而阿諛奉承、狂笑、張口結舌的幸福感中,他背叛了世界各地的觀眾和聽眾。

他沒有問尖銳的問題。他沒有問普京為什麽現在仍在使用現代戰爭中最殘酷的手段殘害和謀殺無辜的烏克蘭平民。

他並沒有因為酷刑、強奸、炸毀幼兒園而責怪他——所有這些都是完全不必要和無緣無故的。他甚至沒有一次試圖阻止普京的謊言。

相反,他對普京所謂的博學多才,傻乎乎地喘不過氣來,愚蠢地接受了這位俄羅斯領導人半熟的維基百科和徹頭徹尾的謊言的混合體——比如波蘭對 1939 年的分裂和毀滅負有某種奇怪(且不祥)的暗示——就好像俄羅斯一樣沒有參加莫洛托夫-裏賓特洛甫條約*。

他沒有質疑普京所謂的英國政府說服了烏克蘭人在 2022 年春天繼續戰鬥而不是向普京的溫柔憐憫投降的荒謬建議。

正如烏克蘭政府的每一位成員都會證實的那樣,從澤連斯基以下,任何人、任何事都無法阻止那些勇敢的烏克蘭人為 自己的國家而戰——而且也沒有什麽能阻止。

在過去的兩年裏,普京徹底推翻了自己的論點。他的魯莽和犯罪暴力已經證明他自己完全錯了。 

他讓世人了解到,烏克蘭不僅是一個國家,而且是一個偉大的國家,他的愚蠢誤判讓他看到了一種比世界上任何國家都更強烈、更難以抑製的愛國情緒。

但塔克·卡爾森當然沒有指出這一點。他允許這位俄羅斯領導人用半個小時的時間來闡述烏克蘭曆史上不存在的假設,然後滔滔不絕地談論普京的“百科全書式知識”。

自從喬治·加洛韋前往巴格達讚揚薩達姆·侯賽因的不知疲倦以來,我們還從未見過對暴君如此卑鄙的表現。

在某種程度上,將卡爾森的糟糕表現歸咎於他是不公平的。他不是來挑戰的。他隻是媒介、下水道、導管,通過它可以將未經處理的普京信息漿液噴灑到普京最想要的地方——美國肥沃的中心地帶。

向美國人民傳達的信息很簡單。普京說,這不是你的問題。這是歐洲的問題。別插手這場衝突,讓我結束它——很快我們就能重歸平靜。這是美國人以前就聽過的信息。

1940年6月,希特勒入侵法國後不久,《WR赫斯特》的報紙就獲得了對這位德國獨裁者的采訪,主要是因為赫斯特長期以來對希特勒表示同情。

被選中的記者是一位名叫馮·韋根的德裔美國人,他已經對元首進行了多次正麵采訪。

馮·韋根如期被帶入一座被占領的法國城堡,在那裏他找到了希特勒、馮·裏賓特洛甫等人,並在他準備好的詳細筆記的幫助下,希特勒向美國報紙記者提供了他不間斷的曆史智慧。

希特勒說,這是關於歐洲,而不是美國。美國人沒有什麽好怕納粹德國的,也沒有理由幹涉。他說,他並不是特別想征服巴黎。他甚至不想在歐洲大陸發動戰爭。

他隻是想維護德語民族古老的權利。這聽起來很熟悉嗎?

就像希特勒一樣,普京現在喋喋不休地談論他的母語使用者所遭受的所謂不公正待遇。聽普京談論頓巴斯的俄語國家或烏克蘭西部的匈牙利語國家,你可以聽到希特勒談論蘇台德地區或阿爾薩斯-洛林。

當然,普京以半小時的獨白開始了采訪,內容涉及智者雅羅斯拉夫和留裏克以及九世紀的事件;因為他想給美國觀眾和選民留下這樣的印象:這都是一些令人困惑的歐州問題,是石勒蘇益格-荷爾斯泰因州**問題中的六分之一,這個問題可以追溯到數百年前。但真相就像普京本人一樣赤裸裸。

真相是:這位俄羅斯領導人選擇入侵一個主權獨立的歐洲國家,除了他傲慢地想要摧毀這個國家並重建蘇聯之外,沒有任何理由。和希特勒一樣,他當然對自己的未來意圖撒了謊。

畢竟,他對自己入侵烏克蘭的意圖公然撒謊。他告訴全世界,他親自告訴我,他不會入侵烏克蘭,就在下達坦克開進命令的幾周前。

有什麽理由現在應該相信他會尊重任何和平協議——即使烏克蘭人試圖達成一項和平協議?顯然,他在波蘭、波羅的海國家或前蘇聯廣大周邊地區的任何地方都不值得信任。

所以我祈禱美國人民能夠識破昨晚的邪惡采訪騙局。我知道有多少美國國會議員是塔克·卡爾森的粉絲,我說:想想查爾斯·林德伯格,想想那些隻顧美國第一的人,想想有多少美國立法者最初反對參與與希特勒的戰爭。

當年他們錯了,而塔克·卡爾森派今天對普京的看法也是嚴重錯誤的。我對所有目前阻止對烏克蘭援助的共和黨人說,看在上帝的份上,別忘了你的身份。

你們是羅納德·裏根的繼承人,地球上最後最好的希望(last best hope)的領導人。你不能通過出賣烏克蘭並允許普京使用暴力重建蘇聯帝國來讓美國再次偉大。

恰恰相反,隻需投入美國國防預算的一小部分,就能幫助英勇的烏克蘭人扭轉局勢,將普京打回原形--從而幫助確保歐洲-大西洋地區一代人的安全,而實際上無需讓美國士兵冒一兵一卒的風險。

你可以向世界表明,試圖用武力改變邊界將導致災難;因為最大的謊言--也是普京在采訪中最希望表達的--就是俄羅斯領導人必勝無疑。他並不比阿道夫-希特勒更不可戰勝;事實上,他必敗無疑。

他已經遭受了巨大的損失,但這不是問題的關鍵。無論他暫時占領了多少烏克蘭領土,他都無法征服他們的精神。

我希望並相信,如果特朗普總統再次當選,他將讓批評他的人驚訝,讓他的政黨改弦更張,完成他成為第一個向烏克蘭人提供武器的美國總統時開始的工作。

我之所以這麽說,是因為歸根結底,所有美國總統都知道,我們的集體安全是不可分割的。歸根結底,美國人是可以信賴的,他們會在用盡--就像老話說的那樣--所有可用的替代方案之後,做出正確的選擇。

塔克-卡爾森昨晚幫了我們大家一個大忙,因為他提出了另一種選擇--普京獲勝,烏克蘭毀滅,歐洲大部分地區再次陷入黑暗和恐懼。這不可能也絕不能發生。

 

When Tucker Carlson went to the Kremlin he had a function well known to history. He was to be the stooge of the tyrant, the dictaphone to the dictator and a traitor to journalism. (三個連環排比拳)

In his fawning, guffawing, slack-jawed happiness at having a ‘scoop’, he betrayed his viewers and listeners around the world. (幸福感很形象地描述卡爾森的愚蠢)。

He didn’t ask tough questions. He didn’t ask Putin why even now he is using the most brutal means of modern warfare to maim and murder innocent Ukrainian civilians.

He didn’t take him to task for the torture, the rapes, the blowing up of kindergartens — all of it wholly unnecessary and unprovoked. Not once did he even try to dam the flow of lies from Putin. (簡潔明了)

Instead he gasped fanboyishly at Putin’s alleged erudition, boneheadedly accepting the Russian leader’s mixture of semi-masticated Wikipedia and outright falsehood — such as the bizarre (and ominous) suggestion that Poland was somehow responsible for her own partition and destruction in 1939 — as if Russia had had no part in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact*.

He did not challenge the ludicrous suggestion that the UK government persuaded the Ukrainians to fight on, rather than surrender to Putin’s tender mercies, in the spring of 2022.

As every member of the Ukrainian government will confirm, from Zelensky down, nothing and no one could have stopped those lion-hearted Ukrainians from fighting for their country — and nothing will. (烏克蘭人的抵抗本質上是他們自己的決定,其他人隻是支持。如果烏克蘭是卡爾森之流,那當然也不必不必幫助。)

In the last two years Putin has conclusively demolished his own thesis. By his reckless and criminal violence he has proved himself completely wrong. (也是卡爾森之流的托詞。)

He has revealed that Ukraine is not only a country, but a great one, and by his stupid miscalculation he has helped engender a patriotic feeling that is stronger and more unquenchable than any in the world.

But of course Tucker Carlson didn’t make that point. He allowed the Russian leader to dilate for half an hour on the supposed historic non-existence of Ukraine then gushed about Putin’s ‘encyclopaedic knowledge’.

Not since George Galloway went to Baghdad and hailed the indefatigability of Saddam Hussein have we seen such a display of bum-sucking servility to a tyrant. 【喬治卡樂維在對薩達姆采訪時說:“先生,我向你的勇氣、你的力量、你的不知疲倦致敬。”】

Ukrainian artillery fires towards the front line near Bakhmut during the war against Russia. Nothing could have stopped these lion-hearted Ukrainians from fighting for their country - and nothing will.

In a way it is unfair to blame Carlson for his abject performance. He was not there to challenge. He was just the medium, the sewer, the hose by which the untreated slurry of Putin’s message could be sprayed where Putin wants it most — over the fertile heartlands of America. 【卡爾森就是個下水道,導糞管。】

The message to the American people was simple. This is not your problem, Putin was saying. It’s a European problem. Stay out of this conflict, let me finish it off — and soon we can all be at peace. It is a message that the Americans have heard before.

In June 1940, shortly after Hitler invaded France, the newspapers of WR Hearst secured an interview with the German dictator, mainly because Hearst had long shown sympathies with Hitler. 【曆史的一致。】

The chosen journalist was a German-American called Von Wiegand, who had already conducted several positive interviews with the Fuhrer. 【曆史總是不缺這樣的小醜。】

Von Wiegand was duly ushered into a captured French chateau, where he found Hitler, von Ribbentrop and others, and with the help of detailed notes that he had prepared Hitler gave the U.S. newspaper reporter his uninterrupted historical wisdom.

This is about Europe, not America, said Hitler. The Americans have nothing to fear from Nazi Germany and no reason to interfere. He didn’t particularly want to conquer Paris, he said; he didn’t even want to be waging war on the European continent.

He just wanted to vindicate the ancient rights of the German-speaking peoples. Does that sound familiar?

Exactly like Hitler, Putin now drones on about the alleged injustices suffered by speakers of his native tongue. Listen to Putin talking about Russophones in the Donbas, or Hungarophones in western Ukraine, and you can hear Hitler talking about the Sudetenland or Alsace-Lorraine.

Of course Putin kicked off the interview with his half-hour monologue about Yaroslav The Wise and Rurik and the events of the 9th century; because he wants to give American viewers and voters the impression that this is all some baffling euro-problem, some six-of-one-half-a-dozen-of-the-other Schleswig-Holstein** question that goes back hundreds of years, when the truth is as bald as Putin himself.

The Russian leader chose to invade a sovereign and independent European country — with no justification other than his arrogant desire to crush that country and to rebuild the Soviet Union. Like Hitler, he is of course lying about his future intentions.

After all, he lied bare-facedly about his intention to invade Ukraine. He told the world, he told me personally, that he wasn’t going to invade Ukraine, only weeks before giving the orders for the tanks to roll in.

Why on earth should he be trusted now to respect any peace deal — even if the Ukrainians tried to do one? He obviously can’t be trusted over Poland, or the Baltic states, or anywhere in the vast periphery of the former Soviet Union.

So I pray that the people of the U.S. are able to see through last night’s unholy charade of an interview. I know how many U.S. congress men and women have been fans of Tucker Carlson, and I say: remember Charles Lindbergh, remember the America Firsters, remember how many American legislators at first opposed involvement in the war with Hitler.

Well, they were wrong then, and the Tucker Carlsonites are grievously wrong about Putin today. To all those Republicans who are currently blocking aid to Ukraine, I say, for God’s sake remember who you are. 【極右派,即使完全從你們的小算盤上算,綏靖也絕對是失策。】

You are the heirs of Ronald Reagan, the leaders of the last best hope of earth. You cannot make America great again by selling out Ukraine and allowing Putin to use violence to rebuild the Soviet empire.【現在的極右派已經不是裏根的繼承者,裏根在他們看來也是RINO。】

On the contrary, by investing only a fraction of the U.S. defence budget, you can help those valiant Ukrainians to turn the tide, put Putin back in his box — and therefore help secure the Euro-Atlantic area for a generation, without actually risking a single U.S. soldier. 【是的,花錢也買不到的便宜。如果你說,那烏克蘭人的鮮血也重要啊,是的,但是投降就不流血了,烏克蘭大饑荒,肅反,不知死了多少烏克蘭人。】

You can show the world that trying to change borders by force will lead to disaster; because the greatest lie of all — and the one Putin hoped most to project by his interview — is that the Russian leader is bound to win. He is no more invincible than Adolf Hitler; in fact, he is bound to lose. 【美國極右派雖然知道自己捏著屎,可能也要吃下去,因為他們覺得有些香味飄出來。但即使如此,有英國在,事情壞不到哪裏去。】

He has already suffered colossal losses, but that is not the point. Whatever Ukrainian territory he temporarily occupies, he can never conquer their spirit.

I hope and believe that if President Trump is elected again he will confound his critics, turn his party round and complete the work that he began when he became the first U.S. President to give arms to the Ukrainians. 【總還有DS牽製它。美國政治的穩定性,在於DS。】

I say that because in the end all U.S. Presidents know that our collective security is indivisible. In the end the Americans can be relied upon to do the right thing, having exhausted — as the old saying has it — all the available alternatives.

Tucker Carlson did us all a favour last night in the sense that he proffered the alternative — a Putin victory, the destruction of Ukraine and the descent of much of Europe, once again, into darkness and fear. It cannot and must not happen. 【極左是癌,但極右是馬上要你命的刀。】




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