评论
打印
At the same time, Mikhail Gorbachev was allowing the Soviet Union's network of client states to go in peace.
与此同时，米哈伊尔·戈尔巴乔夫允许苏联的附庸国网络和平解体。
Apparently, the containment strategy was working.
显然，遏制战略在起作用。
It looked like everything was going right.
一切似乎都进行得很顺利。
The Cold War's end would bring with it a peace dividend, which would take the place of Cold War military expenditures.
冷战的结束带来了和平红利，取代了之前冷战时期的军费开支。
Saddam Hussein had other tricks up his sleeve.
但萨达姆·侯赛因还藏着别的把戏。
Iraq had traditionally regarded the tiny but oil-rich emirate of Kuwait as, really, Iraqi territory.
伊拉克一直把石油蕴藏的小国科威特酋长国看成是伊拉克的领土。
Saddam thought that war against A defenseless enemy would restore his damaged prestige at home and abroad.
萨达姆以为对这样无自卫能力的敌人作战可以修复他在国内和国外受损的声誉。
On August 2nd 1990, Iraqi forces attacked and quickly overran Kuwait.
1990年8月2日，伊拉克军队袭击并迅速侵占了科威特。
Five years earlier, the Western bloc would have sided with Kuwait, forcing the Soviets to side with Iraq.
如果是5年前，西方集团会和科威特站在一边，迫使苏联支持伊拉克。
Weirder things have happened.
更奇怪的事情发生了。
But while Gorbachev was taking congratulations for his Nobel Peace Prize.
戈尔巴乔当时因为获得了诺贝尔奖而接受多方的祝贺。
President George Herbert Walker Bush, a veteran of the Second World War, was planning to retake Kuwait.
乔治·赫伯特·沃克·布什总统，一位二战的老兵，在打算夺回科威特。
Saudi Arabia, a valued United States ally, was in danger, and so as its oil.
沙特阿拉伯，美国重要的盟友，受到了威胁，它的石油也是。
While the United Nations engaged in ultimately fruitless negotiations,
在联合国进行最终一无所获的协调时，
President Bush very quietly built up a huge allied strike force in Saudi Arabia, under the name Desert Shield.
布什总统在沙特阿拉伯建立了强大的联合军事力量，取名为“沙漠盾牌行动”。
