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For decades, "stability" was what the U.S. expected Saudi Arabia to provide in the Middle East.
幾十年來，美國一直都希望沙特能在中東地區保持“穩定”。
But if anything the rapprochement with the White House has emboldened the new regime.
但如果說有什么不同的話，那就是與白宮的友好關系給新政權壯了膽。
Shortly after Trump departed Riyadh from his first foreign visit last May, the Saudis stunned the world by launching a blockade on Qatar.
去年5月，特朗普上任后首次出訪就去了利雅得，訪問結束后不久，沙特就封鎖了卡塔爾，一舉震驚了全世界。
In November, bin Salman appeared to make a hostage of Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri for more than two weeks,
去年11月，本·薩勒曼又疑似曾在黎巴嫩總理薩阿德·哈里里前往利雅得期間深夜發布視頻，
after Hariri announced his resignation in a latenight video during a trip to Riyadh.
宣布自己辭職之后將其劫持并扣留了兩周之久。
Amid regional and global uproar, the Lebanese leader returned to Beirut and recanted his resignation days later.
就在整個地區乃至全世界一片嘩然之際，這位黎巴嫩領導人回到了貝魯特，并于幾天后宣布放棄辭職。
The ultimate target in all these adventures was Iran,
沙特的所有這些冒險行動的最終目標都是伊朗，
which arms the largely Shi’ite Houthis in Yemen, has warm relations with Qatar and plays a central role in Lebanese politics.
因為伊朗不僅為也門什葉派胡塞武裝提供了武器，與卡塔爾保持著友好的關系，在黎巴嫩政治中扮演了核心的角色，
It is also the great rival of Saudi Arabia both for regional power and leadership of the Muslim world.
也是沙特阿拉伯爭奪地區權力，爭奪穆斯林世界領導地位的最大對手。
Bin Salman calls Iran the source of every ill in the Middle East—including, to many scholars' astonishment, religious extremism in Saudi Arabia.
本·薩勒曼稱伊朗是中東所有問題的根源，包括沙特的宗教極端主義問題，這讓許多學者都感到頗為震驚。
The crown prince dates this extremism to 1979, the year Sunni radicals stormed the holiest site in Islam, the Grand Mosque at Mecca,
王儲將這種極端主義情緒追溯到了1979年，那一年遜尼派激進分子不僅襲擊了伊斯蘭教最神圣的圣地——麥加大清真寺，
and called for the overthrow of the House of Saud on the grounds of insufficient piety.
還以沙特王室不夠虔誠為由呼吁推翻王室。
In bin Salman's improbable telling, the zealots were inspired by the Islamic revolution that had installed a theocracy in Iran a few months earlier...
根據本·薩勒曼那并不可信的講述，那些遜尼派的狂熱分子是受到了幾個月前的那場在伊朗建立起了一個神權政體的伊斯蘭革命的鼓舞……
ALL THIS ADDS UP to a different Saudi Arabia, one way or another.
不管怎樣，就是這些原因合起來改變了沙特的面貌。
To outsiders, the most obvious danger is from bin Salman's impulsiveness in foreign policy.
在外人看來，最明顯的危險其實源自本·薩勒曼在外交政策方面的沖動。
The running war in Yemen is the most worrisome example.
也門持續不斷的戰爭就是最令人憂心的例子。
"This was a somewhat immature, ill-advised and improvised action,"
“這一舉措不僅有些不成熟、有些欠考慮，也有點兒臨時湊合的感覺，”
says Stephen Seche, former U.S. ambassador to Yemen,
前美國駐也門大使斯蒂芬·塞奇說，
that "raises questions about whether he can carry out other very ambitious plans."
“讓人懷疑他是否真能落實剩下的那些野心勃勃的計劃。”
The challenge is to reconcile that, and the iron fist he shows rivals at home, with the charming fellow flying around the U.S.
問題是如何才能在這一點——以及他在國內向對手展示的鐵拳風格——和在美國飛來飛去且討人喜歡的小伙子這一形象之間妥善調和。
For all the contradictions, few come away from an encounter with bin Salman unaware of the force of his personality, intellect and devotion to change.
盡管本·薩勒曼身上存在種種矛盾，但與他會面時很少有人不被他的個性、才智以及對變革的獻身精神打動。
"He really is trying to project a certain image, and he's worked on it extremely hard," says Saab.
“他的確在努力樹立自己的形象，在這方面他的確是下了非常非常大的工夫，”薩博說到。
It is more than enough to give hope to those who want to see the possibility of positive disruption in the Middle East.
這已經足以點燃那些盼望看到中東出現積極分裂的可能性的人的希望了。
Says the Woodrow Wilson Center's Miller:
伍德羅·威爾遜中心的米勒說：
"I guarantee you that people who this man has sat down with are asking themselves: What's new in the Middle East?
“我敢打賭，凡是和這個人坐下來說過話的人都會問自己：中東最近有什么新鮮事嗎?
Two words: Saudi Arabia."
兩個字；沙特。
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