美國(guó)核裁軍新條約獲批難

【英文原文】

The US Congress starts its lame-duck session on Monday, with the Obama administration sweating bullets over whether one of its few landmark foreign policy achievements, the New Start treaty, will be put to a vote. If not, it would be kicked forward into the next Senate, with its much reduced Democratic majority, where the 67 votes necessary for ratification look like a dauntingly steep climb.

In theory, this should not be a hard sell, with all the Pentagon's top brass lining up to tell Congress that failure to ratify would undermine national security by further delaying the return of US inspectors to Russian nuclear sites. They have not been on the ground since last December when the old Start treaty expired.

But there are also financial considerations behind the Senate's foot-dragging on ratification. America's nuclear laboratories have teamed up with Senate Republicans led by minority whip, Jon Kyl, to squeeze extra funding out of an administration that is short of cash but desperate to bank some solid achievements.

【參考譯文】

隨著美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)下周一進(jìn)入跛腳鴨會(huì)期，奧巴馬政府對(duì)其為數(shù)不多的重大外交成就之一——《削減和限制進(jìn)攻性戰(zhàn)略武器新條約》能否付諸表決深感擔(dān)憂。若該條約遭到擱置，將交由下一屆參議院表決，那時(shí)民主黨在參議院的多數(shù)黨優(yōu)勢(shì)已被大幅削弱，要確保條約獲批所需的67票或?qū)㈦y如登天。

按理說(shuō)新條約獲批并非難事，因?yàn)槲褰谴髽堑母吖賯冋?jìng)相游說(shuō)國(guó)會(huì)，如果該條約得不到批準(zhǔn)，將進(jìn)一步推遲美國(guó)監(jiān)察員赴俄檢查核設(shè)施，進(jìn)而危及美國(guó)的國(guó)家安全。從去年12月原條約到期至今，俄羅斯的核設(shè)施一直處于不受美方監(jiān)控的狀態(tài)。

但參議院遲遲不批條約還有其財(cái)政方面的考慮。美國(guó)核實(shí)驗(yàn)室已與少數(shù)黨黨鞭喬恩·凱爾領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的共和黨參議員通力合作，試圖從一個(gè)極需政績(jī)卻囊中羞澀的政府手中榨取發(fā)展核項(xiàng)目所需的財(cái)政撥款。