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主题：西方，西方媒体，中国，俄国，智者。 -- CaoMeng
草蜢序
俺希望和大家分享一篇俺目前看到的对苏联瓦解和当代俄国，包括西方媒体对其的报道， 分析的最透切的文章。 在此之前，先讲讲俺个人经历哈。
俺自从在美国高中做Community Service社区服务给俺学校的纽约时报订购者送报以来， 直到最近5年的这十几年中养成了每天看报的习惯。特别是纽约时报，俺坚持看了十来年。 为神马，俺现在不看了呢？ 实在是看不下去了。在最初的10年中，纽约时报所宣称的普世价值可以说影响了俺当时正在成立的世界观。但渐渐滴，俺的脑瓜里开始有了疑惑。 为什么呢？
说实话，从最开始，俺最感兴趣的还是关于中国的新闻。 但在俺读高中的90年代初，中国对绝大多数老美来说其本是另外一个星球，相对关注的程度可能还不如火星。 在很少的中国报道中，俺发现这些报道中的中国好像只存在此记者的脑海里，因为这和我所知道的，不久前离开的中国出入太大了。但我当时还相信Chinese Exceptionalism 也就是中国例外论。 啥是中国例外论？ 大家应该熟悉的。 就是中国是很特殊的，老外不可能懂中国。 当然老外对中国的评价也不能当真。所以俺对纽约时报的坚定信仰没有因为其中国报道的质量而动摇。
俺在当时的大事件如波黑战争，车臣战争上的立场实际上就是纽约时报向俺灌输的立场。但渐渐滴，俺的脑瓜里疑惑越来越大。 为什么呢？ 第一，俺渐渐滴不再相信Chinese Exceptionalism中国例外论， 因为俺发现美国人和中国人的差别其实没有俺最初想象那么大。 美国也有American Exceptionalism美国例外论， 这另当别论。 第二，如果纽约时报的记者不能对中国做出准确的报道，俺为什么要相信他/她们会对波黑或车臣做出准确的报道呢？
与此同时，随着中国重要性的增加，关于中国的报道在西方媒体做出现得越来越濒繁了。俺所读的报纸也从纽约时报，延伸到其他报纸，如华盛顿邮报等等。 但所有的报纸媒体，对中国的报道基本上是千篇一律的一个调调。
互联网的普及给俺带来了新的消息来源。
俺对西方媒体真面目的具体认识却是来自于俄国。
对，俄国。
准确的说来自于创立于俄国的自由英文网页报刊 Exile。
Exile是几个到苏联瓦解后的俄国去体验生活的美国青年创建的。 其中一位美国青年Matt Taibbi曾经是驻扎在俄国的主流西方媒体机器中的一个小螺丝。 Matt Taibbi揭露了为什么西方媒体对俄国的报道老是那么千篇一律的一个调调。第一是客观原因，
本来一家报所驻外的人头和资源有限， 比起相对严谨的国内报道，特别在当本国的编辑本来就对海外不熟悉的条件下，很少会有人去仔细检查和核对海外记者发表的文章。第二，一般本土编辑已经决定了本土读者会对什么题材感兴趣（其本调子是看看这帮外国人相对本国是整么整么不堪）； 一般关于俄国的题材，天气，鬼天气； 所有的俄国当代问题都是苏联的余毒； 伏特加； （上边是在扑进大人上台以前的西方媒体情形）。第三， 上诉条件造成驻外记者互相抄袭成习，反正上面没人管，也没人care。 最主要的还是西方记者对俄国的态度；其本上都是带有强烈的优越感或救世主情节，俺们是给你带来先进文明技术滴！更不用说的就是潜意识的意识形态了。自由民主， 咱们滴自由民主好！ 就是好！
Matt Taibbi描写了他是整么一次在去乌兹别克斯坦采访的飞机上就把稿子写好，“被采访的人”的对话也写好了，就差把名字填上了。 厉害吧！
苏联瓦解后的俄国是西方人的天堂，更确切的说是西方男人的天堂。 在Matt Taibbi和他的合作者Mark Ames的笔下，在苏联刚解体后到达俄国的西方男人，不管自身条件如何，成功与否， 都亲身经历了White God effect 或白人大神效果。多少在本国不被异性青眯的西方男同胞都在刚刚摆脱了万恶的共产主义的俄国MM们的怀抱中找到了他们的性解放。Matt Taibbi和Mark Ames将他们的90年代俄国探险记写成了一部书《The Exile: Sex, Drugs, and Libel in the New Russia》 或被俺翻译成中文为《流放：性交，毒品和诽谤在新俄国》。 俺不得不承认他们描写的像新殖民者般的生活是让俺这个在当时高科技泡沫爆破以后的美国本土加班加点滴挨踢男高山仰止滴。
俺是在1990年，俺13岁的时候来到的美国。在俺成长中的90年代正是美国在冷战结束，成为唯一世界超级霸主，经济腾飞，信心膨胀的10年。日裔美国人法兰西斯.福山同志著作的《历史的终结及最后之人》最能代表当时美国主流的意识形态， 也就是“西方自由民主制的到来可能是人类社会演化的终点，是人类政府的最终形式。”
而生活在“人类社会演化的终点”社会，并刚刚开始步入中产阶级，也就是这个“人类社会演化的终点”社会的主流的俺，在此时向往的却是在俄国的乱世中劫收的冒险者。福山同志的《历史的终结》让俺感到沮丧。俺感到沮丧因为俺看到这“人类社会演化的终点”的话语权居然是被以福山同志为代表的平庸之辈掌握在手滴！
俺甚至在一段时间中认为，西方文明堕落了。因为以帝国喉舌们的平庸才学却沾沾自喜盲目自大的态度，让俺觉得帝国的好日子已经在俺身后了。
但最近5年中，俺发现不完全是这样。 帝国喉舌们的平庸是因为人才早就被真正挣大钱的行业吸引走了。 在70年代以后的西方世界里，挣大钱的行业就是金融业。
巴菲特老哥不用说了，罗杰斯(Jim Rogers)，麦嘉华（Marc Faber）都是少有的洞察力犀利，拥有大智慧之人；在70年代，他们正是进入金融市场打拼的年轻人。
麦嘉华（Marc Faber）童鞋在他最近的一封newsletter中推荐了Eric Kraus，他认为Eric是他朋友中智力上最具挑战性的人。
Eric Kraus童鞋是早期到俄国淘金的投资者. 他来到俄国的上个世纪97年恰恰好是Exile以及更早时期到达俄国的西方男人们的狂欢接近尾声的时候。读完Eric Kraus写到他的俄国经历，俺不得不同意麦嘉华童鞋，此老兄就是牛！
废话少说， 俺直接将Eric Kraus童鞋文章以及俺粗陋的翻译如下
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作者序
The Missing Chapter –
A Personal View of Russia–Twenty Years After
失踪的章页 -
对俄罗斯的个人看法-二十年以后
Every so often, one of my readers enquires as to why I do not write a book. The answer seems obvious enough: it has already been done.
常常有读者问我为什么我不写一本书。回答很简单：书早就有了。
The libraries are groaning under the weight of millions of them – in our native France, everyone who can manage rudimentary verb conjugation feels compelled to bequeath his opus to an expectant world. With that many writers, who has the time to
read?
图书馆都在百万雄书的压力下呻吟了-在我们的法国，每个会运用动词的人都觉得必须将自己的名著遗留于世。有这么多的作家，谁有时间去读书啊？
And besides, it has all been said already – and better – by Proust, by Borges, by Kafka, by the Great Russian classic authors of the 19th Century. What could I hope to add?
再说了，所有该说的都被说了-而且还说的更好 - 被Proust, 被 Borges, 被 Kafka,还有19世纪的伟大俄罗斯经典作家们。我又能加什么呢？
Yet when invited to contribute a chapter to a book being put together by one local financial institution, collectively authored by 20 (ah… make that 19…) of that first generation of expats involved in the creation of Russia’s first approximations to a capital market, and who were then mad enough to stick around as it all unravelled, crashed and burned (but to reincarnate in
something rather less surrealistic), it seemed a very worthy undertaking.
但当被邀请去为当地金融机构编辑的，20个（啊。。。改成19个。。。）创立建设俄国第一个近似金融市场的东东，而且癫狂得在其崩溃（不过演化为了没有以前那么超现实主义的东东）以后继续坚守的第一代外籍人士，集体创作的一本书，提供一章节的时候，我觉得值此一举。
I did caution them that my chapter was likely to be rather spicy; one of the wonderful things about Russia is that total absence of political correctness which we enjoy.
我告戒过他们我的章节会很辣；俄罗斯的美好之处之一就是她丝毫没有一点我们享受的政治正确性。
The story recaps some of the highlights of my 15 years before the mast – amidst the madness that was early post-Soviet Moscow, or at least what I can remember of it (no one who fully participated in the Great Party at the Edge of the Apocalypse made it out without sacrificing a few brain cells along the way…).
这个故事重温了一下我在旗杆下15年的亮点-在苏联刚刚瓦解后的莫斯科疯狂之中，至少我还能记住的部分（没有人能够在完全参与了举办在世界末日边缘的伟大宴会之后而不牺牲几个脑细胞的）。
While I had imagined that I could jot it all down in an afternoon, I ultimately spent days, weeks, writing and re-writing what was meant to be an intensely personal account… an ego trip if you will, but that is what was requested of me.
本来我以为我可以在一天下午之内全部写下来，但最终我花了整天，整星期，写和重写一部特别个人的故事。。。一个自我之旅，不过这就是我被要求写的。
All in vain! My foray into the literary world was to fall victim to the very cowardice and group-think I have long decried in the Western media.
全部白费了！ 我在文学世界的第一个探险式进军马上就被我长期以来声讨的西方媒介中的懦弱和集团思考给毁了。
To make a long story short – while the initial drafts were received with great enthusiasm by the Moscow sponsor, when they forwarded the finalized version to London, the response from the publisher neatly summarized everything that is corrupt, cowardly, bent and cloyingly hypocritical about British Media and their coverage of Russia.
把长事短说-虽然初稿被莫斯科的发起人热烈欢迎，但当他们将定稿送往伦敦的时候，出版商的回应很干净利落地总结了所有英国媒介以及他们对俄国的报道的腐败，懦弱，曲折和狡猾的虚伪。
According to the UK publisher, to refer to convicted criminals – as “criminals”; to bent ministers – as “bent”; to purported journalists engaged in nothing more than propaganda-for-pay – as “propagandists” (thus avoiding a more colourful term) detracted from the credibility of my story.
根据英国出版商，将被定了罪的罪犯称为“罪犯”；将奸邪的官员称为“奸邪” ； 将名义上的新闻工作者却从事于收钱宣传的记者称为“宣传员”（这样避免了更丰富的词汇， 草蜢注：这个更丰富的词汇应该是Prostitute,及小姐,也就是现代中文中所说的“妓者”）将减损我故事的可信性。
In short, he demanded that my baby be gutted like an eel!
简单地说，他要求将我的婴儿像鳗鱼一样被挖出内脏。
Excerpts from his reptilian letter (highlighting is my own):
他恶心的信件中的摘录（黑体是我标出的）：
“… I am now attaching an edited version of the chapter by Eric Kraus. As discussed, as well as a more general edit, I have toned down the accusations and removed names where I think there might be problems. I believe the substantive points being made by the author are still there. More importantly I believe that the points being made are clearer and stronger for having been made less personal and more impartial.
… Being sued for libel is perhaps unlikely… What is much more likely is not being taken seriously – and that would be a pity because this chapter has the potential to make a valuable contribution with its firsthand/inside knowledge. Why might it not be taken seriously? Because personal accusations, whether true or not, will diminish the authority of the work (and of the book as a whole). There is no need to name names in quite the way that is proposed here. The same substantial points can be better made without this…”
“我现在将附加一个编辑后的Eric Kraus的文章。根据我们谈过的，和作为一般的普通编辑，我在一些我认为会造成问题的部分淡化了各项指控和除去了实名。我相信作者的实质性要点还在。更重要的是我相信这些要点在被修改为少一点个人化多一点客观化以后变为更清楚更强大了。。。
被以诽谤起诉可能性不大。。。但更可能的是不被当真-那会是一个遗憾因为这章带有内部消息的文章有潜力做出很有用的贡献。为什么会不被当真？因为关于个人的指控，不管真假，都会会减少这部作品的权威性（以及整本书）。这里没有必要将实名列出来。同样的要点可以不用这些而被提出。。。”
Needless to say, T&B cleans such folk out from between his toes. I certainly do not intend to be censored by some pitiable denizen of a dying civilization that still imagines itself to rule the (air)waves. He – and his ilk – are fated to drown while clinging desperately to the status quo, as it disappears beneath the waves of history.
不用说，T&B会将这种人从他的脚丫里清洗出来。 我绝对不会让一些在一个濒临死亡却幻想自己仍然统治着（广播频道）波浪的文明中苟且偷生的可怜虫和谐我。他-和他的一类 - 命中注定了将被淹没却在拼命地抓住现状不放，正当其（现状）正在历史的波澜中消失。
But – dear reader – let it be you who draws their own conclusions as to what adds – and what detracts – from the story! I have restored the London redactions, highlighted in blue. Do please tell whether you think it better with or without!
不过-亲爱的读者-请你自己决定什么应该从故事中被补充-什么应该被减去！我恢复了伦敦的删节，用蓝色突出。请告诉我你以为它们是有好还是不有好！
In fact, I would recommend that you buy the book, print my chapter, and just paste it in. I would be deeply gratified to find my little literary cripple in the company of the stories of my peers from those best – and worst – of times.
事实上，我推荐你买这本书，将我的章节印出来，然后粘贴回去。我将会深感欣慰地发现我的文学小跛子站在我同行的故事之中-那些从最好-和最坏-的时代出来的故事。
Given the effort which went into this Quixotic undertaking – I would strongly encourage all to forward the following pages around to anyone who might be interested/amused/outraged – or best, some combination of all three.
既然我已经将很大的努力加入了这个唐吉诃德式的事业-我强烈地鼓励所有人将下列文章传送给任何会有兴趣/会被逗乐/会感到愤慨-或最好，会感到所用三项结合的人。
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Through Western Eyes – Russia Misconstrued
通过西方的瞳孔-俄国是整么被误解的
In Russia, even the past is unpredictable
“在俄国，连历史都不能被预测”
Rene De Obaldia
（草蜢注：Rene De Obaldia是香港出生的法国剧作家和诗人）
As I queued in Paris clutching a one-way ticket to Moscow, Russia circa 1997 seemed to offer infinite promise – adventure, exoticism, even some sex… cash too – and especially, an escape from the stultifying boredom and bureaucracy of old Europe into the wildest frontier of global finance.
当我抓着去莫斯科的单程票在巴黎排队的时候，1997年的俄国像提供着无限的承诺-冒险，异国情调，甚至性交。。。还有现钞-特别是，在最疯狂的世界金融边陲去逃避老欧洲压抑的无聊和官僚主义。
Only the blind or hopelessly retrograde could fail to see that this young country was throwing off the shackles of Communism, striding boldly into a brave new world.
只有瞎子和没有希望的退步者才会看不到这个年轻的国度正在扔掉共产主义的锁链，勇敢地大步迈向美丽新世界。
On the emerging markets debt desk in Paris, while extending bounteous repo credit to the “best” Russian banks, and brokering Soviet and Russian bonds to our moreadventurous clients, we had made sport of our obstructive but dim-witted compliance officers, filling our personal accounts with Russian bonds and equities.
在巴黎的新兴市场债务服务台，在延长宽裕回购信贷，和向我们更冒险的客户经纪苏联和俄罗斯的债券的同时，我们取笑着我们乐于阻碍但机智缓慢的合规人员们，将我们自己的个人帐户中放满了俄国的债卷和股票。
But the real action was on the ground in Moscow – and what did I have to lose?
但真正的作为是在莫斯科-我又有什么可以失去的呢？
Two weeks later, flagging down a gypsy cab on the Sadovoe Koltso for a ride to the investment conference at the Mezhdunarodnaya, a Soviet-era hearse pulled up, offering me a ride for a modest 30 roubles.
两个星期以后，在Sadovoe Koltso大街打 “山寨”的士的时候，一辆苏联时代的殡车到来，向我提供了收费仅30卢布的服务。
While the omen was initially lost upon me, that afternoon I was dragged out of yet another stultifying Gazprom presentation by my friend Adam, calling from London with the news that the Hong Kong market was melting down.
这个预兆没有被我发觉，那天下午我就被我朋友亚当从又一个俄罗斯天然气工业股份公司的呆滞演示中拖出来，他从伦敦打电话来告诉我香港股市完全雪崩了。
“Adam”, I replied, “sorry to hear that – but why am I supposed to care? I’m at a Russia conference…” By the end of that afternoon, I had realized why I should care…
“亚当”，我回答说，“很抱歉地听到这消息 - 但关我啥事啊？ 我在俄国开会。。。” 在那下午结束之前，我就明白为什么我需要关心了。。。
Great bubbles live in mortal terror of little termites – catalysts that ultimately trigger their demise.
大泡沫总是生活在对小白蚁的死亡恐怖之中 - 那是他们死亡的最终催化剂。
The Asian crisis was the pebble that triggered a Russian avalanche – a classical debt crisis terminating with refinance rates spiralling out of control; Russian financial markets went into a tailspin, ultimately crashing by more than 90%, as rates on
government debt went ballistic, repeatedly cresting at well over 100% per annum. It seemed that I had bought myself a ring-side seat for the end of the world – but alas, that seat was well inside the ring!
亚洲金融危机是造成俄国雪崩的小石头-一个经典的再融资利率失控的的债务危机；俄国金融市场被推向了深渊，最终崩溃到90%以上，当政府债卷利率完成了弹道导弹式滴上升，不止一次滴达到了100%的年利率。看起来，我给自己买了一张世界末日的环侧就座票 - 但问题是，我发现这座位完全在拳击场以内。
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Shock Therapy
休克疗法
The decline of the Soviet system mirrored the of other great historical empires –from Persia and Rome to the Hapsburgs and the Ottomans: all were characterized by the inability of an all-powerful centre to micro-manage an increasingly complex and diversified periphery while containing the inevitable centrifugal forces.
苏联制度的衰退反映了历史上其他伟大帝国的失败-从波斯到罗马到哈布斯堡王朝到奥斯曼帝国：所有上述者都是典型的强力的中央无法微观管理一个越来越复杂，越多元化的边陲而继续约束不可避免的各种离心势力。
Gorbachev’s misguided attempt at stepwise reform of the socialist system – gradually loosening political control while maintaining tight command over the economy – was an objective lesson in how not to reform.
戈尔巴乔夫错误地改造社会主义的企图步骤 – 慢慢放松政治掌握一边继续紧抓计划经济 – 是一个客观的不该整么样改革的课程。
Unlike China, which allowed the gradual development of a parallel private economy under the ridged political oversight of the Communist Party, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the dismantling of its command structure amounted to simply ripping out the control unit, allowing the decerebrated body to reorganize itself as best it could in what was to become a grotesque parody of Adam Smith liberalism.
不像中国那样让与计划经济平行的私人企业在共产党严格控制下逐步发展，苏联的崩溃和它指挥中心的拆卸相当于简单地剖出控制单元，让无脑的身体自己重新组建自己，完全变成了亚当史密斯自由主义的一个奇形怪状滴滑稽模仿体。
The economic systems of our developed countries function not in some stellar vacuum based on the abstract, mechanical workings of free-market dynamics, but rather within a framework developed over decades if not centuries: an extensive body of legislation,business practices, regulatory bodies, and most vitally, a complex system of checks and balances against the depredations of unconstrained capital – a robust civil society, political parties representing competing economic interests, labour unions, a relatively independent judiciary and in the best of cases, a diverse (if not precisely “free”) press.
我们发达国家的经济系统不是在一些星际真空中根据抽象，机械的自由市场动态原则来发挥作用的， 而是运行于一个通过了几十年如果不是几百年发展起来的框架中： 一个丰富的机构包括法规，商业惯例，监管机构，然后最重要的，一个复杂的用于对不受约束的掠夺资本的制衡系统-一个强大的民间社会，代表各派经济利益竞争的各党派政党，工会，一个比较独立的司法机构和在最佳环境中，一个多元化（如果不是真正地“自由”）的媒体。
Russia, of course, had none of these. Soviet legislation was grotesquely unsuited for the workings of a liberal economy.
俄国，当然，没有任何这些东西。 苏联的法规是完全不能对付一个自由经济的运作的。
The press was openly controlled by a handful of oligarchs, with journalists bought and sold like cattle. Government regulators were ineffective in the best of cases, available for rental in the remainder.
媒体被一帮少数的寡头们明目滴掌握，记者们被像牲口一样买卖。政府监管官员，在最好的情况下是无能为力，其他时候可作出租。
Political parties served the economic interests of their owners.
政党为它们的主人的经济利益服务。
By the middle of the decade, a small group of men had – by means fair or foul – succeeded in gaining control of the only truly value-accretive sectors of the Soviet economy, the natural resources exporters, while creating a banking system which lived by parasitizing the State.
在这10年的中期（草蜢注：指90年代中期）， 一小帮男人-通过正常和非正常手段-成功地掌握了苏联经济中唯一价值增值部分，自然资源出口，同时创建了一个扮演国家寄生虫角色的银行机构。
In the absence of any substantial countervailing powers, the oligarchs could buy, bribe, or upon occasion, shoot away any attempts at constraint – only after the inevitable crisis, with the rise of Vladimir Putin, was there to be a counterforce powerful enough to break the political stranglehold of the oligarchy.
在没有任何反对势力的情况下，寡头们可以随心所欲地买，贿赂，或有时候，击毙任何约束-只有在不可避免的危机以后，普京的崛起，才有了一个强有力的反对力量将寡头们的政治束缚打破。
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Cheering from the Cheap Seats
廉价坐位上的啦啦队
With the wisdom of hindsight, the system was bound to fail – yet all men live in hope, and the late 1990s was a heady time.
有了事后诸葛亮的智慧，可以看到这系统是注定了要失败的 - 但所有的人都生活在希望之中，而90年代末确实是一个令人心醉的时代。
Supporting our naively bullish views, the Western press could hardly have been more enthusiastic.
支持着我们天真乐观的看法，西方媒体热情得不能再热情。
Anglo-Saxon audiences love tales of virtue triumphant – preferably with a simple storyline.
盎格鲁-撒克逊观众们热爱美德最终胜利的故事 - 最好是有一个简单的故事情节。
They are imbued with a profound conviction that their own specific socioeconomic model is the only one conceivable; indeed,
that the success of any political transformation can be measured by how closely it approximated the Chicago model1.
他们被灌注了深刻的信仰，那就是他们的特殊的社会经济模式是唯一可以想象的；的确，任何成功转变都被其有多少和芝加哥模式相似而衡量。1
（草蜢注：芝加哥模式指的是以美国经济学家Milton Friedman为首创建的芝加哥经济学派培养出的门生们在第三世界国家推广的模式， 特别是从智利到芝加哥大学深造的Chicago Boys芝加哥男孩们，他们回国后主办了智利的经济改革）
（作者注：Simply ignoring all inconvenient evidence – e.g. the overwhelming success of first the “Asian Dragons,” then of China, employing political models that were anything but liberal democratic.
很简单地忽视了所有不和谐的证据 - 比如最先“亚洲小龙”，然后中国取得的巨大成功， 运用了绝对不是自由民主的政治模式。）
Thus, the FT and The Economist competed in their praise for the bold steps taken by Yeltsin and his Young Reformers.
这样，金融时报和经济学人竞争着夸奖叶利钦和他的年轻改革者们。
Yes, there were lurid tales of oligarchic excess, and some passing reference to the inconveniences endured by the old and the sick, by disenfranchised factory workers and unpaid teachers – but surely, these short-term inconveniences were a price well worth paying for Russia’s emergence as a fully-fledged member of the modern world.
对，这儿有一些寡头们过分，还有一些一笔带过的关于老弱病残，被剥夺的工厂工人和没有拿到薪水的老师经历的一些不方便 – 但肯定，这些短期的不方便是让俄国成为被现代世界完全接受的一员的合理代价。
Perhaps not coincidentally, these were happy times in Brussels and Washington – so much so that, in one (unintentionally) comical footnote to the era, Francis Fukuyama echoed Hegel’s elevation of Prussia to the pinnacle of history with his “The End of History” thesis, only designating the American model as the true “final synthesis.”
可能不是巧合，这段时期在布鲁塞尔和华盛顿是欢快的时期 - 特别欢快，所以在一个此时代（无意）滑稽的注脚中，法兰西斯.福山用他的“历史的终结”理论响应了黑格尔将普鲁士上升到历史的顶峰的作风，理所当然地将美国模式制定为真正的“最后合成”。
While history has not been kind to his predictions, they fit well with the triumphalist mood of the time (the secular rise of China was then still a couple of decades in the future).
虽然历史对他的预言不是很厚道，他的言论很好地配合了当时的战胜者心态（此时离中国的长期崛起还有二十年）。
Seen from the Russian perspective, matters looked rather different.
从俄国立场来看，事情看起来却很不一样。
The Soviet Union had not been defeated in war, nor had the Communist regime been overthrown by violent revolution.
苏联没有在战争中战败，共产党政权也不是被暴力的革命推翻。
The Soviet Union had voted itself out of existence with barely a struggle, and the successor state – Russia – saw itself not as a defeated power but, at worst, as a repentant one. Poor trusting bears, first Gorbachev, then Yeltsin, accepted assurances of
lasting friendship from their erstwhile rivals of the West at face value.
苏联基本上没有一点斗争地选择了结束自己的存在，它的继承国家 - 俄国 - 并不认为自己是战败国，最多，是一个忏悔的国家。 可怜盲信的熊们，第一戈尔巴乔夫，然后叶利钦，接受了他们昔日的敌人表面上的友谊保证。
While their naveté now seems remarkable, in the context of the times, it was perhaps understandable: given that the Soviet Communism which they had battled was clearly an evil, they could only assume that the opposing force, Western Democracy, must by nature be equitable, beneficent and disinterested.
虽然他们的天真现在看起来异乎寻常，但在当时，却是可以理解的： 如果他们与其斗争的苏联共产主义显然是邪恶的，那他们只能假设对立面，西方民主国家，一定是公平，慈善和无私的。
They were to be bitterly disappointed – like every successful political system, Western democracies are structures designed for the exercise of power in the furtherance of the interests of their stakeholders.
他们将心寒地失望 - 像每一个成功的政治系统，西方民主国家是设计来为他们的利益相关者行使权力而进一步谋利的结构。
The temptation to take advantage of the weakness of an old rival to gain permanent ascendancy proved to be irresistible, and despite Clinton’s assurances that NATO would not extend eastward to fill the vacuum left by the departing Soviet forces, within a few months Yeltsin found himself staring across the border at former satellites now occupied by a potentially hostile military alliance. There was precious little he could do.
充分利用老对手的弱点而让自己获得永久优势的诱惑被证明是不可抗拒的，尽管克林顿保证了北约不会向东扩张去填苏联撤退留下的真空，仅仅几个月以后叶利钦发现自己眼瞪这边境线对面的前卫星国家被潜在敌对的军事联盟占领了。而且他没有办法阻止。
In public, Russia was welcomed as a full partner – even offered a chair at the G-7; her interests were treated with respect, provided only that they coincided with those of the Atlantic Alliance. When NATO began bombing Serbia absent a UN mandate, Russian protests were met with ill-disguised scorn. The public narrative was one of reconciliation – the subtext was a tale of victory and neutralization. History is written by the victors – with the pen wielded by their tame, compliant press.
在公共场合，俄国是被欢迎的全面合作伙伴 - 甚至也被提供了在G-7的一个椅子； 她的利益是被尊重的，只要那些利益是符合北约的利益。当没有联合国授权的北约开始轰炸塞尔维亚，俄国的抗议碰到了不被掩盖的蔑视。公开的故事是和解 - 潜台词却是（西方的）胜利和（俄罗斯的）瓦解。 历史是胜利者写的 - 用他们驯服，温顺的媒体做笔杆子。
草蜢注：未完待续。以上蓝色的部分如作者所说是原被伦敦的编辑剔除部分。 这翻译的活真TMD不是人做的。 中英文原创都随心所欲的蚱蜢差点被这翻译的活折腾死。 尽管俺读英文晓得啥意思，但要俺翻译为恰当的中文词语，俺得用了N遍的狗狗翻译机器！ 这应该是俺最后一次搞翻译了，因为俺相信大家不凡地英语水平让俺粗陋的翻译犹如脱了裤子打屁，当然主要还是太累了。
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送花送花！
这种成系统的文章的翻译,能否不分段,前面全是英文,后面整篇翻译,这样好看点.
是这个 Eric Kraus？
... the Managing Director of Anyatta Capital, the investment advisor to the Nikitsky Russia/ CIS Opportunities Fund. For over a decade he has been analysing investment opportunities in Russia. He writes a monthly newsletter Truth and Beauty (… and Russian Finance) available in pdf format at www.nikitskyfund.com.
http://www.passportmagazine.ru/article/687
为自己的中国报道辩护，辩护啥呢？因为他哥终于鼓起气来到北京看望他的弟弟并顺便旅游，结果他哥看到的中国和他弟弟报道里的中国完全不一样，临走前把这个记者狠狠的骂了一通。。。
德国之声（deutsche welle）的一个华裔女编辑因为在北奥期间为中国说了几次好话就被以观众投诉为名炒了鱿鱼。而那些观众估计就是某功的拥护者。
只能说天下没有免费的午餐，相信做出选择的俄国人不会幼稚到认为抛弃苏联就自动会带来面包与黄油（对俄国民主化的批评似乎都是围绕着西方的忽悠与许诺），那是太小瞧的俄国人的智力了。揭开媒体的表象也不是自动就等同了抓住时代的脉搏.