中國新聞獎參評作品內(nèi)容 文字稿
作品標(biāo)題：Xinhua Commentary: Meltdown of “Shining City on a Hill”（新華評論：“山巔之城”的淪陷）
Xinhua Commentary: Meltdown of “Shining City on a Hill”
BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- In his 1863 Gettysburg Address, the then U.S. President Abraham Lincoln expressed the hope that the government "of the people, by the people, for the people" shall not perish from the earth. However, the heroic figure in American history may not have expected that the United States today has fallen far short of his expectations.
"We lied, we cheated, we stole... It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment." This "famous saying" by the former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is perfect for describing American politicians who have been backpedaling and reneging on their promises.
The American-style democracy now has descended into a game of transferring interests and political donations almost seen as "legitimate bribery." Political polarization is becoming the U.S.'s new label, and "vetocracy" makes the country run into trouble. A Pew Research Center survey found that just 20 percent of Americans say they trust the federal government just about always, or most of the time, a sign of public disappointment.
DETERIORATING HUMAN RIGHTS
Domestically, the United States is witnessing a deteriorating human rights record. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the pandemic response in the country has been taken as a chip by the Republican and Democratic parties to attack each other, leaving people's health and lives unattended. As a result, the United States, as the country with the most developed medical system, has reported more than 80 million confirmed cases and a death toll of 986,019 as of Tuesday, said the U.S. Johns Hopkins University, ranking first globally.
Notorious for its double standard regarding human rights, the United States, on the one hand, often accuses other countries of arbitrary detention and forced labor on no solid ground. On the other hand, they never mention the abuses of prisoners in their own country. The "black sites" worldwide, including the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, have arbitrarily detained and tortured people without trials.
The wanton pressure upon other countries and interference in other countries' internal affairs by the United States have led to massive human rights disasters. Statistics show over the past nearly 20 years, the so-called anti-terror wars waged by the U.S. have cost more than 929,000 lives. The persisting warfare and turbulence in Afghanistan have made one-third of its population refugees, and 3.5 million Afghans have become displaced because of conflicts.
MOCKABLE DOUBLE STANDARD
Some U.S. politicians have constantly lowered their "bottom line of morality," as demonstrated by the U.S. decision to "make up for" victims of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and its inflaming Russia-Ukraine conflict for its military-industrial complex to reap from the warfare, among others.
Regarding the rules-based order, the United States has abided by it when its interests can be served and discarded it when they are not.
While claiming "the basic tenet that big countries cannot bully small countries" has been violated in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the United States seems to have forgotten what it has done. It waged attacks on Iraq without a mandate from the UN Security Council in 2003, resulting in casualties of several hundred thousand and more than a million displaced. The United States has wantonly imposed unilateral sanctions on Cuba over the years, despite UN resolutions calling for ending such economic blocks.
The world has seen all these illegal and cruel acts, and the United States attempts to whitewash them under the pretext of "maintaining the rules-based international order." What the U.S. politicians have done displays hypocrisy and double standards, making the country the biggest destabilizing element to world peace and stability. It is also the biggest threat to international order and the global rule of law.
HYPOCRISY, NOT DEMOCRACY
While U.S. politicians have been stuck in a quagmire of false democracy at home, they are still pointing fingers at other countries' political systems, exercising hegemony and bullying in the name of democracy. It has pushed for the neo-Monroe Doctrine in Latin America under the pretext of "promoting democracy," incited "color revolution" in Eurasia, and remotely controlled the "Arab Spring" in West Asia and North Africa.
In addition, under the "inspiration" of "the glory of the American experiment," the United States has arbitrarily set traps for or intimidated and coerced other countries, such as funding the White Helmets to fabricate evidence of Syria's chemical weapons.
The American politicians' dishonesty is rooted in their contempt for justice and disregard for faith to achieve short-term political goals by stealing concepts and confusing people. If the United States continues this way, it will only make itself an outcast by the international community and history.? Enditem
中文譯稿：
新華社北京4月15日電題：“山巔之城”的淪陷
新華社記者
1863年，時任美國總統(tǒng)亞伯拉罕·林肯在葛底斯堡演說中表達(dá)了“民有、民治、民享的政府永世長存”的期望。這位美國歷史上英雄般的人物或許不曾想到，如今的美國已經(jīng)與他的期望相行漸遠(yuǎn)到如此地步了。
“我們?nèi)鲋e、我們欺騙、我們偷竊……這才是美國不斷探索進(jìn)取的榮耀?！泵绹皣鴦?wù)卿蓬佩奧的這句“名言”，用來概括美國政客的言而無信、出爾反爾，再合適不過。
長期以來，美式民主已經(jīng)淪為利益輸送游戲，政治獻(xiàn)金等幾乎成了“合法的賄賂”。政治極化、兩黨對立正在成為美國的新標(biāo)簽，“否決政治”甚至讓國家運(yùn)行陷入困境。皮尤研究中心的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，只有20%的美國人表示他們一直或大多數(shù)時候信任聯(lián)邦政府，美國民眾顯然失望透頂。
日益惡化的人權(quán)
在國內(nèi)，美國的人權(quán)記錄正在惡化。自新冠肺炎疫情在美國暴發(fā)以來，疫情防控成為共和黨和民主黨相互攻訐、否決的工具和籌碼，而民眾的生命健康卻未得到應(yīng)有的重視。正因?yàn)槿绱耍绹鳛槿蜥t(yī)療系統(tǒng)最發(fā)達(dá)的國家，其累計(jì)新冠肺炎確診病例和累計(jì)死亡人數(shù)截至4月2日分別超過8000萬例和98.6019萬人，排在世界首位。
美方在人權(quán)領(lǐng)域的雙重標(biāo)準(zhǔn)舉世聞名。一方面經(jīng)常毫無依據(jù)地指責(zé)別國任意拘押、強(qiáng)迫勞動，另一方面卻對本國監(jiān)獄里的虐待、壓榨囚犯問題絕口不提。包括關(guān)塔那摩監(jiān)獄在內(nèi)的美國在全球各地的“黑獄”，未經(jīng)審判就將人任意拘押并施加酷刑。?
美方動輒對他國施壓、干涉他國內(nèi)政，給相關(guān)國家造成巨大的人權(quán)災(zāi)難。據(jù)統(tǒng)計(jì)，美國近20年發(fā)動的所謂“反恐”戰(zhàn)爭已經(jīng)奪去超過92.9萬人的生命。美國在阿富汗持續(xù)的戰(zhàn)爭與動蕩導(dǎo)致阿富汗近三分之一人口淪為難民，350萬阿富汗人因沖突而流離失所。
諷刺的雙重標(biāo)準(zhǔn)
美國某些政客的種種作為不斷拉低道德底線，比如決定把扣押的數(shù)十億美元阿富汗資產(chǎn)用于“賠償”“9·11”恐怖襲擊事件受害者；不斷給俄烏沖突火上澆油，讓本國軍工復(fù)合體趁機(jī)大發(fā)戰(zhàn)爭財(cái)。
合則用、不合則棄，這就是美國對待國際規(guī)則的態(tài)度。
在俄烏沖突中，美方聲稱“大國不能欺負(fù)小國”的國際秩序基本規(guī)則遭到破壞，似乎全然忘記自己的所作所為。
2003年，在沒有聯(lián)合國安理會授權(quán)的情況下，美國對伊拉克發(fā)起攻擊，造成數(shù)十萬人傷亡，100多萬人無家可歸；不顧聯(lián)合國大會連續(xù)多年通過決議要求其終止對古巴的經(jīng)濟(jì)封鎖，依然濫施單邊制裁……
這些在世人眼中非法和殘暴的行徑，美國均以維護(hù)“基于規(guī)則的國際秩序”來粉飾。美國政客的所作所為顯示出的虛偽和雙標(biāo)，使美國成為世界和平的最大不穩(wěn)定因素，以及國際法治和秩序的最大威脅。
虛偽，而非民主
這邊美國政客們的腳已經(jīng)深陷國內(nèi)虛假民主的泥潭中拔不出來，那邊卻在世界范圍內(nèi)對他國政治制度指指點(diǎn)點(diǎn)，借民主之名行霸權(quán)霸道霸凌之實(shí)。
美國借“推廣民主”之名在拉美推行“新門羅主義”，在歐亞地區(qū)煽動“顏色革命”，在西亞北非國家遙控“阿拉伯之春”；在所謂“美國不斷探索進(jìn)取的榮耀”鼓動下，任意為其他國家設(shè)置陷阱或恐嚇脅迫，比如資助“白頭盔”組織捏造敘利亞擁有化武的證據(jù)等。
美國政客失信的根源在于其對公理的輕慢、對信義的漠視，企圖通過混淆視聽達(dá)到短期政治目的。若美國繼續(xù)如此行事，最終只會將自己變成孤家寡人，被國際社會、被歷史拋棄。
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