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A billion-dollar ransom would buy a lot of explosives.
10億美元的贖金本可買很多炸藥的。
The spat has split the Gulf Co-operation Council, hitherto a force for stability in an unstable region.
維護動蕩的中東局勢的海灣合作委員會因這些爭論而分裂。
It may drive Qatar, as well as Kuwait and Oman, the other two members of the GCC, who pointedly declined to support the Saudi move, further into the arms of Iran.
這也會讓曾經明確表態不支持沙特阿拉伯斷交舉措的科威特和阿曼（兩國也是海灣合作委員會成員）投入伊朗的懷抱。
Tempers may eventually cool, but some observers worry that the price of Saudi Arabia backing down will be the muzzling of those pesky Al Jazeera journalists.
爭論總是會緩和下來，但是旁觀者們擔心沙特阿拉伯反悔的代價會讓半島電視臺煩人的記者們閉嘴。
Mr Trump's support for Saudi actions also damages America's credibility.
特朗普支持沙特的行為也損害了美國的信譽。
It suggests that, under him, the superpower can abandon its allies after a brief chat with their enemies.
因為這預示著超級大國在他的帶領下，能在與對手進行簡短交流之后，輕易地拋棄自己的盟友。
“During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar—look!” tweeted Mr Trump on June 6th.
特朗普6月6日發布推特說：“在我近期訪問中東時，曾說不會再為激進的意識形態買賬。領導人們都指著卡塔爾說，看。”
The sober foreign-policy types who cling on in his administration are scrambling to downplay such undiplomatic words and calm tempers.
特朗普政府中堅持清醒外交政策的政客們，都在爭相淡化他的非外交辭令和冷酷的脾氣。
Perhaps recognising his error, Mr Trump offered his services as a mediator the following day.
或許特朗普意識到了自己的錯誤，在第二天把美國形容成調停者。
Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, Egypt's autocratic president, has also decided that Mr Trump is an American leader who will let him persecute his enemies without hindrance.
埃及獨裁總統Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi也說特朗普會允許本國處決自己的敵人。
On May 23rd, two days after the two men met and praised each other in Riyadh, Mr Sisi had a potential opponent arrested for allegedly making an indecent hand gesture at a rally five months earlier.
5月23日，也就是特朗普和Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi在利雅得見面，并相互稱贊的兩天后，Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi就將一位反對者以在五個月前的集會中做不雅手勢為由逮捕。
On May 25th the government blocked access to the websites of Mada Masr, Egypt's leading liberal newspaper, and those of 20 other media outlets, including Al Jazeera and Huffpost Arabic.
5月25日，政府封鎖了包括埃及重要的自由派報紙Mada Masr在內的20余家媒體，其中還有半島電視臺和阿拉伯版《赫芬頓郵報》。
In Bahrain the authorities killed five people and arrested 286 more in a raid on the home of a Shia cleric; shortly after that, they dissolved the main secular opposition party.
在巴林，政府突襲了一家什葉派牧師的家，逮捕人數超過286人，造成5人喪生，不久之后，他們又解散了主要的世俗反對黨。
America would once have objected to all this.
美國曾經是可以反對這些的。
No longer—and that is a recipe for a less stable Middle East.
但是他們沒有，這也是表示他們愿意看到一個更加動蕩的中東。
譯文來源考研英語時事閱讀
