Joe Biden’s announcement of tank supplies to Ukraine came with boasts about boosting American jobs

乔·拜登在宣布向乌克兰提供坦克的同时，还吹嘘自己能增加美国的就业机会。

Amid soaring inflation and other economic woes, the administration of US President Joe Biden has been obsessed with emphasizing any shred of positivity they can find. That’s especially true with that typically American buzzword: jobs.
Last Thursday, the president tweeted a graph showing the the latest four-week average number of joblessness claims vs what it was when he took office. Apparently the number has shrunk more than four-fold. The previous day, Biden quote-tweeted a post by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, showing job creation for blue collar workers is supposedly attributable to his clean-energy agenda, that “climate action” equals “jobs.”

在通胀飙升和其他经济困境中，美国总统乔·拜登领导的政府一直执着于强调他们能找到的任何一丝积极因素。对于一个典型的美国流行语来说尤其如此：就业。
上周四，总统在推特上发布了一张图表，显示了最近四周的平均失业申请人数与他上任时的情况。显然，这个数字已经减少了四倍多。前一天，拜登在推特上引用了能源部长詹妮弗·格兰霍姆的一篇帖子，称他的清洁能源议程为蓝领工人创造了就业机会，“气候行动”等于“就业机会”。
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These two examples are fairly innocuous, but then on that same day as the latter tweet, another series of posts followed. One of them said simply, “American manufacturing is back.” Another was official confirmation of news that the US is now sending 31 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, which he described as “evidence of our enduring and unflagging commitment to Ukraine and our confidence in the skill of Ukrainian forces.”
The latter was important because it represents a major escalation of US involvement in the conflict in the Eastern European country. Only a handful of countries have been graced with this weapons system, and the US is sending an entire battalion's worth of them to Ukraine. It's an indication that there are potentially no limits to what Washington is willing to give Kiev.

这两个例子是相当无伤大雅的，但在发布后一条推文的同一天，另一系列推文紧随其后。其中一条仅仅说:“美国制造业回来了。”另一条是官方确认的消息，美国现在正在向乌克兰输送31辆“艾布拉姆斯”坦克，称这“证明了我们对乌克兰持久而坚定的承诺，以及我们对乌克兰军队技能的信心。”
后者之所以重要，是因为它代表着美国对这个东欧国家冲突的介入大幅升级。只有少数几个国家拥有这种武器系统，而美国正在向乌克兰输送整个营的武器。这表明，华盛顿愿意向基辅提供的援助可能没有限制。
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It leads naturally to questions of whether high-end American warplanes or surface-to-surface missiles will end up in Ukraine. It also leaves us to ponder what these systems would be used for. For example, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he would defend Russian territory, including Crimea, “by any means necessary”. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials have vowed to retake the peninsula.
So Biden’s tank announcement – which follows a string of others by Western capitals – shows the potential for a war that could span well outside of Eastern Europe and go global. It could even mean outright nuclear annihilation. That is a truly terrifying prospect, especially for those of us in close proximity to the action right now.

这自然会引发美国高端战机或地对地导弹最终是否会出现在乌克兰的问题。这也让我们思考这些系统的用途。例如，俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京曾表示，他将“采取一切必要手段”捍卫包括克里米亚在内的俄罗斯领土。与此同时，乌克兰官员誓言要夺回克里米亚半岛。
因此，拜登宣布的坦克计划——在此之前西方国家也宣布了一系列坦克计划——显示了一场战争的可能性，这场战争可能远远超出东欧，走向全球。它甚至可能意味着彻底的核毁灭。这是一个真正可怕的前景，尤其是对我们这些目前正在密切关注这场行动的人来说。

It doesn’t seem like Biden is all that afraid, given his tweet that “American manufacturing is back.” Not only are Abrams tanks manufactured in the US in Lima, Ohio, but they’re also made by unx workers. Check, check for the Biden’s administration’s made-in-America and unx-made priorities.
To note, we have seen a similar line before from some other prominent folk. For one, Jack Matlock Jr., the former US ambassador to the Soviet unx, once told Putin to his face that the Washington-installed missile defense system in Romania – on Russia’s doorstep – was not designed to attack, but to create American jobs. Putin laughed and replied, “Why would you “create jobs” in an industry that has the potential to put the entire human race in danger?”

拜登似乎并不那么害怕，因为他在推特上说“美国制造业回来了”。艾布拉姆斯坦克不仅在美国俄亥俄州的利马生产，而且还由工会工人生产。看看拜登政府的“美国制造”和“工会制造”优先事项。
值得注意的是，我们以前也从其他一些杰出人士那里看到过类似的说法。例如，前美国驻苏联大使小杰克·马特洛克曾当面告诉普京，华盛顿在俄罗斯家门口罗马尼亚安装的导弹防御系统不是为了攻击，而是为了给美国创造就业机会。普京笑着回答说:“你为什么要在一个有可能把整个人类置于危险之中的行业里‘创造就业机会’?”
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


Just days ago, speaking to the National Association of State Chambers (NASC) in Boca Raton, Florida, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said that there are “big business” opportunities in his country for any American company interested in working there. That also naturally includes the defense industry, which Zelensky was sure to give a special shoutout to.
Perhaps I am misreading Biden’s tweet and it was actually tied to the clean energy business. But the fact that a new Green New Deal hasn’t been established and the only major climate legislation undertaken during his presidency is just now being implemented, raises doubts about this position. If he was referring to something else, I think it is evidence is clear that most manufacturing is certainly not in the United States and nor will it return to the country.

就在几天前，乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽伦斯基在佛罗里达州博卡拉顿对全国州议会协会发表讲话时表示，对任何有兴趣在乌克兰工作的美国公司来说，乌克兰都有“巨大的商业”机会。这自然也包括国防工业，泽伦斯基肯定会特别为其欢呼。
也许我误解了拜登的推文，它实际上与清洁能源业务有关。但事实上，新的“绿色新政”尚未建立，而在他担任总统期间实施的唯一一项重大气候立法刚刚开始实施，这让人们对他的立场产生了怀疑。如果他指的是其他东西，我认为有证据清楚地表明，大多数制造业肯定不在美国，也不会回到美国。

The US – or at least its politicians – don’t have the general political will for initiatives in economic spheres outside the so-called defense industry. And that is what’s so ironic about Biden’s tweet, that he’s cheering about how good the latest jobs report is or how a tank factory in Ohio might hire more unx workers despite inching the world closer to nuclear armageddon.
I am reminded of another American nation, Cuba, that counts medical services among its greatest exports and routinely receives Nobel Peace Prize nominations for its heroism. Now-deceased leader Fidel Castro once said that Havana would send “doctors” and “not bombs” around the world. That is quite a foil for Washington, which is content with producing nothing but bombs while anything of practical use is made literally anywhere else.

美国——或者至少是美国的政客们——在所谓的国防工业之外的经济领域，没有普遍的政治意愿。这就是拜登推特的讽刺之处，他为最新的就业报告多么好而欢呼，或者为俄亥俄州的坦克工厂可能会雇佣更多工会工人而欢呼，尽管世界正一步步走向核末日。
我想起了另一个美洲国家古巴，它把医疗服务列为最大的出口产品之一，并经常因其英勇行为而获得诺贝尔和平奖提名。已故领导人菲德尔·卡斯特罗曾表示，哈瓦那将向世界各地派遣“医生”，而不是“炸弹”。这对华盛顿来说是一个相当好的反衬，美国满足于只生产炸弹，而实际上任何实际用途的东西都是在其他地方制造的。