離開
進入《中英對照讀新聞》Libya unrest casts doubts on British policy 利比亞動亂使英國政策備受質疑
◎俞智敏
Britain has shared the embarrassment of western nations over the fall of Middle Eastern regimes they once backed, but the Lockerbie bombing makes its policy on Libya harder to justify, analysts said.
分析家表示，英國與西方國家同為曾經受其支持的中東政權紛紛垮台而感到尷尬，但洛克比空難事件使得英國政府特別難以對其利比亞政策自圓其說。
London’s recent condemnations of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi’s bloody crackdown on protesters rang hollow after nearly a decade of rapprochement with the oil-rich nation despite the 1988 attack on Pan Am Flight 103.
儘管1988年泛美航空103號班機遭到炸彈恐怖攻擊，英國近十年來仍努力與這個盛產石油的國家交好，因此倫敦當局最近譴責利比亞領袖格達費血腥鎮壓示威民眾的作法尤其顯得不誠懇。
But experts said that even gestures like the release in 2009 of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, the only person ever convicted over the bombing, had failed to win Britain any real leverage with Kadhafi.
但專家表示，即使英國於2009年釋放唯一一個因洛克比爆炸案被定罪的嫌犯梅格拉希，也未能替英國在格達費面前取得實際影響力。
"Having sold out quite so quickly, quite so easily, particularly with the Lockerbie fiasco, then no," said Molly Tarhuni, a Libya expert at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs think-tank in London, when asked if Britain’s policy towards Libya had won it any influence.
在被問到英國的利比亞政策是否為英國贏得任何影響力時，倫敦智庫皇家國際事務研究所利比亞專家塔胡妮說「（英國政府）這麼快、這麼輕易地就出賣原則，尤其是在洛克比空難案慘痛失敗後，我的答案是沒有。」
Libya became a pariah in the aftermath of the bombing over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, but relations began to thaw when it agreed in 2003 to pay compensation to the families of the 270 people who were killed. Kadhafi’s rehabilitation was completed in 2004 when then-British prime minister Tony Blair visited him in Tripoli, shaking hands with the Libyan leader in his tent.
自（泛美客機）在蘇格蘭小鎮洛克比上空爆炸後，利比亞就成了遭國際社會孤立的對象，但兩國關係於2003年開始解凍，因為利比亞同意對270名罹難者的家屬提出賠償。格達費的名聲於2004年完全恢復，當時的英國首相布雷爾曾親赴的黎波里訪問格達費，還在格達費的帳篷中與這位利比亞領袖握手。
新聞辭典
ring/sound hollow：片語，指聽起來不真實或不誠懇，如The claims they made two years ago that peace was just around the corner ring very hollow now.（他們兩年前聲稱和平在望的說法，現在聽起來分外不真實。）
rapprochement：名詞，指（兩國間）重新建立起友善關係、恢復邦交，如There are signs of （a） rapprochement between the warring factions.（交戰派系之間出現了和解跡象。）
sell out：動詞片語，原指門票或商品等全部賣光，但亦可引申為指為了名利或成功不惜出賣或背叛原則、道德理想，如He sold out to the other side.（他倒戈到敵方陣營。）
