The American UN veto on a Gaza ceasefire is a low point of wag-the-dog international politics

美国在联合国否决加沙停火协议是国际政治的低谷
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December 8, 2023, is a day that will live in infamy. The United States made history of the worst kind by using its permanent seat on the UN Security Council to veto a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The resolution was advanced by the United Arab Emirates (a US partner) and supported by more than 90 member states. It also had preponderant backing in the global organization’s privileged “upper chamber,” the Security Council, where 13 of its 15 members were in favor (while the UK abstained, abdicating its sovereignty to the US, again).

2023年12月8日，将是一个充满耻辱的日子。美国利用其联合国安理会常任理事国席位否决了一项呼吁加沙立即停火的决议，创造了最糟糕的历史。该决议由阿拉伯联合酋长国(美国的合作伙伴)提出，并得到90多个成员国的支持。它也得到了这个全球组织享有特权的“上院”——安理会的压倒性支持，15个成员国中有13个赞成(而英国弃权，再次将主导权让给美国)。

The American veto directly defied UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Not a natural-born rebel, the UN chief had deployed a rarely used procedure to promote the ceasefire, putting his authority on the line. Referring to Article 99 of Chapter 15 of the UN Charter, he already implied that “international peace and security” were in danger. His spokesperson was explicit that Guterres was making a “dramatic constitutional move.” While maintaining diplomatic balance by also highlighting the Hamas attack on Israel, Guterres’ letter to the Security Council depicted the catastrophic suffering of the Palestinians under the ongoing Israeli attack and concluded that “nowhere” was safe in Gaza.

美国的否决直接无视联合国秘书长安东尼奥·古特雷斯。这位联合国秘书长并非天生的反抗者，他采取了一种很少使用的方式来推动停火，将自己的权威置于危险之中。在提到《联合国宪章》第15章第99条时，他已经暗示“国际和平与安全”处于危险之中。他的发言人明确表示，古特雷斯正在做出“戏剧性的合乎宪章的举动”。古特雷斯在给安理会的信中强调了哈马斯对以色列的袭击，在保持外交平衡的同时，描述了巴勒斯坦人在以色列持续袭击下遭受的灾难性痛苦，并得出结论说，加沙“没有任何地方”是安全的。

All to no avail. The US could not be swayed and maintained its de facto unconditional support for Israel, even while the latter is conducting an intensifying genocidal assault on Gaza and its civilian population. This is no longer up for debate, and is no secret either; Israeli leaders have repeatedly made statements that signal the kind of intent that is a crucial element in the crime of GENOCIDE, while their actions and those of their forces on the ground speak even louder than their words.

一切都无济于事。美国无法动摇，并维持对以色列事实上的无条件支持，即使后者正在对加沙及其平民进行日益加剧的种族灭绝攻击。这不再需要争论，也不是什么秘密；以色列领导人一再发表声明，这种声明的意图是种族灭绝罪的一个关键因素，而他们和他们在当地的部队的行动甚至比他们的声明更响亮。

The world has taken note. It took no special bias for the Palestinian leadership – the one derived from the PLO, as well as Hamas – to identify the veto as “disastrous” and “a disgrace and another blank cheque given to the occupying state to massacre, destroy and displace.” China and Russia have denounced American double standards and the “death sentence” Washington has handed down on future Palestinian victims of the Israeli assault.

世界已经注意到了这一点。巴勒斯坦领导层——既来自巴解组织，也来自哈马斯——毫不偏袒地认为否决是“灾难性的”和“耻辱，是给占领国屠杀、破坏和流离失所的又一张空白支票”。中国和俄罗斯谴责美国的双重标准，以及华盛顿对以色列袭击的未来巴勒斯坦受害者判处的“死刑”。
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Amnesty International says Washington has “brazenly wielded and weaponized its veto to strongarm the UN Security Council… undermining its credibility” and displaying a “callous disregard for civilian suffering in the face of a staggering death toll.” Doctors without Borders did not mince its words either, accusing the US of standing “alone in casting its vote against humanity,” with America “complicit in the carnage in Gaza” and undermining not only its own credibility but also that of international humanitarian law.

国际特赦组织表示，华盛顿“肆无忌惮地动用否决权，并将其武器化，以对联合国安理会施加压力……破坏其信誉”，并表现出“面对惊人的死亡人数，对平民苦难的无情漠视”。无国界医生组织也直言不讳，指责美国“独自投下反人类的一票”，美国“与加沙大屠杀沆瀣一气”，不仅损害了美国自身的信誉，也损害了国际人道主义法的信誉。

Craig Mokhiber – an authority on international law and former head of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights office in New York – tweeted that “on the eve of the 75th Anniversary of the GENOCIDE Convention, the US has again vetoed a ceasefire in the UN Security Council… demonstrating its further complicity in the #GENOCIDE in #Palestine.”

国际法权威、纽约联合国人权事务高级专员办事处前负责人克雷格·莫希伯在推特上写道:“在《种族灭绝公约》75周年前夕，美国再次在联合国安理会否决了一项停火协议……这表明它在巴勒斯坦的种族灭绝中扮演了进一步的同谋角色。”
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This list of censure and condemnation could be prolonged almost ad infinitum, especially if we add voices from the Global South. The key point, however, should be clear already: The US stands isolated and disgraced by its very own, easily avoidable – or so it would seem – decision. This was, after all, not a vote asking for justice and restitution for the victims, or – perish that radical thought! – for prosecution of the perpetrators. All this was about was the barest of bare minimums, just a ceasefire, not even a peace deal. Still, that was too much to ask of the US.

这份谴责和谴责的清单几乎可以无限延长，特别是如果我们加上来自全球南方的声音。然而，关键的一点应该已经很清楚了:美国因为自己的决定而被孤立和蒙羞，而这个决定很容易避免(或者看起来容易避免)。毕竟，这不是一次要求为受害者伸张正义和赔偿的投票，或者——消灭那种激进的思想!——起诉肇事者。这一切都是关于最基本的最低限度，只是停火，甚至不是和平协议。尽管如此，对美国的要求还是太高了。

Historians do not like to predict, but here’s my historian’s prediction: None of the above will ever fade or take on a softer hue. What the US did on December 8 will never appear “understandable” or so “complex” that decent people won’t condemn it. This, on the contrary, will provide a lasting example of what so many Americans profess to love: moral clarity. And that clarity will find an inexcusable, unmitigated, and, yes, evil act that will remain known to human history as precisely that.

历史学家不喜欢预测，但这是我作为历史学家的预测:以上这些都不会褪色或变得更柔和。美国在12月8日的所作所为永远不会显得“可以理解”或“复杂”到正派人士不会谴责的地步。相反，这将为许多美国人自称热爱的东西提供一个持久的例子:道德明晰。而这种明晰将会发现一种不可原谅的，无法减轻的，而且，是的，邪恶的行为，它将在人类历史上被铭记。

Future historians will ask how this happened. How could the single most powerful nation in the world, which claims to lead not only by force but by “values,” side with the Israeli perpetrators of such an outrageous and open crime, while openly contravening much of the international community? Some will even ask the more cynical question how America, even if its elites are entirely bereft of ethics, could do so much harm to itself.

未来的历史学家会问这是怎么发生的。世界上唯一最强大的国家，声称不仅通过武力而且通过“价值观”来领导，怎么可能站在犯下如此令人发指和公开罪行的以色列肇事者一边，同时公开违反国际社会的大部分规定?有些人甚至会问一个更愤世嫉俗的问题，即使美国的精英们完全没有道德，美国怎么可能对自己造成如此大的伤害？

The simplest, almost technical answer to that question has to do with a historical irony. America owes its veto power – as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council – to what happened in World War II. And while World War II and the German Holocaust against the Jews of (mostly) Europe are not the same, they are part of the same history. Much US pride has been invested in being among the powers that brought down the Holocaust perpetrator state Germany. And yet, here we are: The same US is now using that very veto not only to shield another genocidal state but to help it continue its crime.

对这个问题最简单的，几乎是技术性的回答与历史讽刺有关。作为安理会五个常任理事国之一，美国的否决权要归功于第二次世界大战。虽然第二次世界大战和德国对欧洲(大部分)犹太人的大屠杀并不等同，但它们是同一段历史的一部分。
美国的大部分自豪感，都倾注于成为打倒大屠杀实施者德国的大国之一。然而，我们现在看到的是：同一个美国现在不仅在用否决权庇护另一个种族灭绝国家，而且还在帮助它继续其罪行。

There are, of course, broader reasons for this great American failure. Many have been discussed before. Israel serves the function of an enforcer and imperial outpost in the Middle East and sometimes beyond. As current US President Joe Biden – by now often trending on X as #GENOCIDEJoe – stated in 1986, when still an ambitious and pandering senator, if there were no Israel, America would have to invent one. Let’s set aside that even the callous realpolitik behind such thinking is flawed: If it ever was an asset, Israel is turning into a liability. Let’s just note that the American elite claims to believe that Israel is so useful that the commitment to it must be, in Vice President Kamala Harris’ words, “ironclad.”

当然，美国的失败还有更广泛的原因。许多问题之前已经讨论过了。以色列在中东，有时甚至在中东以外，扮演着执法者和帝国前哨的角色。正如现任美国总统乔·拜登在1986年所说的那样，如果没有以色列，美国将不得不创造一个以色列。拜登现在在X（推特）上经常以“种族灭绝乔”作为热门话题。我们暂且不提，即使是这种想法背后冷酷无情的现实政治也存在缺陷:如果以色列曾经是一种资产，那么它正在变成一种负担。让我们注意到，美国精英声称相信以色列是如此有用，以至于用副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯的话来说，对以色列的承诺必须是“坚不可摧的”。

But so it was for Ukraine only, as it were, yesterday. And yet Kiev is about to be dropped, as so many US clients before. What makes Israel different? Clearly, it is the long-standing top recipient of US financial and military support. Is it sunk cost fallacy then? Is America so over-committed to Israel that it simply won’t walk away?

但就像昨天一样，乌克兰的情况也是如此。然而，基辅即将被抛弃，就像美国以前的许多代理人一样。是什么让以色列与众不同?显然，它长期以来是美国财政和军事支持的最大接受国。那么这是沉没成本谬误吗?难道美国对以色列的承诺太多了，以至于它根本不会走开吗?

Yet that hypothesis does not explain the striking one-sidedness of the US-Israel relationship. If there has ever been a case of wag-the-dog, this is it: One thing that the American veto on the Gaza ceasefire resolution shows is that it is Israel that is dominating US foreign policy, not the other way around. Otherwise, Washington would have sought to find a compromise between preserving its own credibility and interests by allowing at least this very modest resolution to pass, while still supporting Israel in multiple other ways.

然而，这一假设并不能解释美以惊人的一边倒关系。如果说有什么“尾巴摇狗”的例子，那就是:美国对加沙停火决议的否决表明，是以色列主导了美国的外交政策，而不是相反。否则，华盛顿就会设法找到一个折衷方案，一方面至少允许这个非常温和的决议通过，以维护自己的信誉和利益，另一方面仍以多种其他方式支持以色列。

Clearly, one thing that is determining this American dependence on another, much smaller country is the massive success of lobbying and foreign influence operations on behalf of Israel. Indeed, it is Israel that has run the most invasive and effective such attack on US politics in history. And for the avoidance of any misunderstandings: Noting this obvious fact has nothing to do with “anti-Semitism.” Indeed, trying to smear those who dare bring it up with that accusation is part of how that influence operation works. It’s time to entirely disregard such cheap tricks.

显然，决定美国对另一个小得多的国家的依赖的一件事是，代表以色列的游说和外国影响行动取得了巨大成功。事实上，正是以色列对美国政治发起了历史上最具侵略性和最有效的此类进攻。为了避免任何误解:注意到这个明显的事实与“反犹太主义”无关。事实上，试图抹黑那些敢于提出这种指控的人，正是这种影响运作的一部分。是时候彻底摒弃这种低级伎俩了。

Add one piece of historical evidence: We know from the empirical record of the past that things can be very different, because they have been. Multiple examples could be adduced to show that America, for decades, used to be partial but not submissive to Israel.

再加上一条历史证据:我们从过去的经验记录中知道，事情本可能会非常不同，因为他们确实曾经与现在不同。可以举出许多例子来说明，几十年来，美国过去对以色列是偏袒的，但并不完全顺从。

The most obvious case is Israel’s occupation of Gaza during the Suez Crisis of 1956. While this aspect of this failed Israeli (and British and French) regime-change war against Egypt is almost forgotten now, Israel also occupied Gaza for several months before being forced to leave (to return, of course, in 1967). Then as well, Israeli forces committed various crimes, including massacres of prisoners and civilians, as Israeli historian Benny Morris (by no means a friend of the Palestinians) has described in detail. But back then, under Republican President Dwight ‘Ike’ Eisenhower, the US had a foreign policy that could confront and contravene Israel.

最明显的例子是1956年苏伊士运河危机期间以色列对加沙的占领。虽然以色列(以及英国和法国)对埃及的政权更迭战争失败的这一方面现在几乎被遗忘了，但以色列在被迫离开加沙之前也占领了几个月(当然，1967年返回)。正如以色列历史学家本尼·莫里斯(他绝不是巴勒斯坦人的朋友)详细描述的那样，以色列军队犯下了各种罪行，包括屠杀囚犯和平民。但当时，在共和党总统艾森豪威尔的领导下，美国的外交政策可能会对抗并违背以色列。

Moreover, Eisenhower’s harsh and decisive intervention against Israel and its European allies happened to be aligned with the Soviet response at the time. As a minimum, here was a tough, conservative American president (and of course ex-military leader of the highest rank) who was not so phobic about “the Russians” as to exclude any coinciding interests.

此外，艾森豪威尔对以色列及其欧洲盟友的严厉而果断的干预恰好与苏联当时的反应一致。至少，这是一位强硬、保守的美国总统(当然还有最高级别的前军事领导人)，他不会那么害怕“俄罗斯人”，以至于排除任何共同利益。

If only we could return, at least, to a world where Americans could forget a little about their Russia obsession when thinking about foreign influence on their country and focus that concern where it matters, namely on Israel. If in addition they could think a little more about Russia as a viable partner – at least occasionally – in helping resolve severe international crises, we would all be much better off. We might even be able to stop a GENOCIDE here or there.

如果我们至少能回到这样一个世界，在那里，美国人在考虑外国对他们国家的影响时，可以稍微忘记他们对俄罗斯的痴迷，把注意力集中在真正重要的地方，即以色列。此外，如果他们能把俄罗斯看作一个可行的合作伙伴——至少偶尔是这样——来帮助解决严重的国际危机，我们所有人的境况都会好得多。我们甚至可以阻止这里或那里的种族灭绝。

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