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A question of balance 左右平衡

来源:英语文库 时间:2018-12-14 点击:

INSIDE Siena"s Palazzo Pubblico a three-part fresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, a 14th-century artist, reminds the city"s rulers of the effects of both good and bad government. Above the happy scene of well-governed people working harmoniously in neat fields or engaged in wealth-creating commerce hovers the winged figure of Securitas. The message is clear: the provision of security and the rule of law is the first duty of governments and the precondition for ordinary people to live productive and fulfilled lives.
在意大利锡耶纳的市政厅里,有幅14世纪画家安布罗乔•洛伦采蒂绘制的三段式壁画,提醒这座城市的统治者,好政府和坏政府的不同影响。壁画下方是治理有方的人民在田间和谐劳作,中间是创造财富的商人,上方盘旋着展开双翼的守护神塞库达斯。主题十分鲜明:提供安全和法制是政府的首要职责,是普通人过上丰富多彩、美满幸福生活的前提。

David Omand, one of Britain"s most experienced "securocrats", takes Lorenzetti"s magisterial work as his starting point in examining what national security means nearly 700 years later. In particular, he sets out to explain the often misrepresented role that secret intelligence plays in helping governments to deliver the security society depends upon.
大卫•欧蒙德是英国资历最为丰富的情报官员,他把洛伦采蒂这幅旷世巨作当做700年后审视国家安全意义所在的起点。他力图解释,在帮助政府维持社会安定方面,秘密情报起的作用常常遭到歪曲。

This is a timely book for several reasons. The first is that although the West is safe in the sense that the existential threat of invasion by a malevolent foreign power or a first strike by a nuclear-armed aggressor is now vanishingly small, the rise of jihadist terrorism has left people feeling vulnerable. Second, despite the disruption of hundreds of plots inspired by al-Qaeda, confidence in the agents of the state to protect people from this new threat is low. The mistakes made in the run-up to the Iraq war engendered cynicism about both the competence of intelligence services and the relationship between them and their ministerial “customers”. Third, because the threat does not come solely from abroad, the gathering of intelligence and the actions that may follow from it pose real risks to the liberties that are at the cornerstone of society.
这本书的及时出版有以下几个理由。首先,尽管从某种意义上来说西方很安全,面临外敌入侵或遭受核武器攻击的威胁性目前微乎其微,但伊斯兰圣战恐怖主义组织的崛起让人们感到无助。其次,虽然基地组织发动了数百次阴谋袭击,国家安全机构保护民众免受新威胁侵袭的信心依然低落。在伊拉克战争前的一段时间里,外界对情报机构的专业能力及其和政府官员的关系冷嘲热讽。第三,由于这种威胁不单来自国外,情报收集和后续行动可能会给公民自由带来实际风险,而公民自由恰恰是社会的基石。

Sir David, a former director of GCHQ (see article) who was Tony Blair’s intelligence and security co-ordinator from 2002 until his retirement in 2005, shirks none of these issues. He has produced an invaluable handbook for politicians, intelligence professionals, journalists and anyone else who wants to know what should and should not be done in the name of securing the state in an age of surprise, turbulence and implacably hostile terrorist networks that are more than capable of using the latest technology.
英国政府通讯总部前负责人大卫•欧蒙德爵士,于2002年任托尼布莱尔政府的情报安全协调人至2005年退休,他并没有回避这些问题。在一个充斥惊奇、动荡、敌对恐怖分子网络甚至可以利用最新科技的时代,对政治家、情报专家、记者和任何想了解以保卫国家安全名义该做什么不该做什么的人来说,他这本书都是无价宝典。更多信息请访问:http://www.24en.com/

Security, he believes, starts with the recognition that it is a psychological as much as an objective state. Governments must be able to show that they are doing everything that is reasonable to protect citizens from threats, but they must be candid in admitting that not all risks can be eliminated without doing more harm than good and eroding the very values they are seeking to defend.
他认为,首先要承认安全既是心理感受也是客观状态。各国政府必须显示,他们所做的一切对保护公民免受威胁都是合情合理,但他们还要坦然承认,消除各种风险不免要弊大于利,侵蚀他们为之捍卫的价值观

That leads to several important conclusions. The first is the need for honest communication—the realisation that it is counter-productive to exaggerate the scale of the threat. Sir David strongly dislikes all the “war on terror” talk that has encouraged both a sense of permanent insecurity and a consequent willingness to sanction disproportionate behaviour, such as torture and the suspension of civil liberties.
以此得出几个重要的结论。首先需要真诚交流,要意识到夸大威胁的程度会产生反作用。大卫•欧蒙德爵士不喜欢“反恐战争”的说法,这些言论会引发人们持久的不安全感,也会产生制裁不当行为的意愿,比如对公民自由权的歪曲和撤销。

But governments have a duty to acquire as much information as they can consistent with that proportionality. Sir David argues that surveillance must always be carried out within a regulatory framework to safeguard unrestrained snooping, but he insists that the more you know, the more likely you are to make good decisions. To that end, pre-emptive intelligence, often acquired by unconventional means, is the feedstock of sensible anticipatory action. It is all a question of balance.
只要政府能遵守这些原则,就有义务获取更多信息。大卫•欧蒙德爵士认为,必须在监管框架内进行监视,来保护公民免遭窥探,但他坚称,你了解的越多,你的决策可能越正确。为此,通常用非常规手段来获取情报,而先发制人的情报是明智行动的基础。这些都涉及平衡的问题。

The near-certainty that something horrible will from time to time happen places a premium on what Sir David calls “national resilience”. In other words, when the suicide-bomber does get through we must be able to bounce back and resume normal life as quickly and as smoothly as possible. But fortitude, he argues, does not just happen. It depends on notions of civil harmony and responsibility, which governments have an important role in supporting. Although this book is written in slightly mannered mandarin English, Sir David’s practical knowledge, common sense and decency shine through.
可以完全断定,偶尔发生的恐怖事件鼓励大卫•欧蒙德爵士所谓的“国家复原”。换而言之,当自杀性炸弹袭击者引发爆炸时,我们必须能够尽快平稳恢复,重新开始日常生活。他认为,不屈不挠的精神不会凭空而来,要依赖社会和谐和公民责任,政府要起到重要的支持作用。尽管本书语言稍显矫揉造作,仍然凸显了大卫•欧蒙德爵士的实践知识、丰富常识和庄重文风。

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