1.The Situation in the World After World War Ⅱ 二戰後的世界局勢
After World War ll,the Allies disagreed about how the European map should look,and how borders would be drawn.Each side held dissimilar ideas regarding the establishment and maintenance of post-war security.The western Allies desired a security system in which democratic governments were established as widely as possible,permitting countries to peacefully resolve differences through international organizations.
冷戰時的歐洲
Given the Russian historical experiences of frequent invasions and the immense death toll(estimated at 27 million)and the destruction the Soviet Union sustained during World War ll,the Soviet Union sought to increase security by dominating the internal affairs of countries that bordered it.
The Western Allies were themselves deeply divided intheir vision of the new post-war world.Roosevelt\\u0027s goals-military victory in both Europe and Asia,the achievement of global American economic supremacy over the British Empire,and the creation of a world peace organization-were more global than Churchill\\u0027s,which were mainly centered on securing control over the Mediterranean,ensuring the survival of the British Empire,and the independence of Eastern European countries as a buffer between the Soviets and the United Kingdom.
In the American view,Stalin seemed a potential ally in accomplishing their goals,whereas in the British approach Stalin appeared as the greatest threat to the fulfillment of their agenda.With the Soviets already occupying most of Eastern Europe,Stalin was at an advantage and the two western leaders vied for his favors.The differences between Roosevelt and Churchill led to several separate deals with the Soviets.In October 1944,Churchill traveled to Moscow and agreed to divide the Balkans into respective spheres of influence,and at Yalta Roosevelt signed a separate deal with Stalin in regard of Asia and refused to support Churchill on the issues of Poland and the Reparations.
Post-war Allied occupation zones in Germany.Further Allied negotiations concerning the post-war balance took place at the Yalta Conference in February 1945,albeit this conference also failed to reach a firm consensus on the framework for a post-war settlement in Europe.In April 1945,both Churchill and new United States President Harry S.Truman opposed the Soviets\\u0027decision to prop up the Lublin government,the Soviet-controlled rival to the Polish government-in-exile,whose relations with the Soviets were severed.
Following the Allies\\u0027May 1945 victory,the Soviets effectively occupied Eastern Europe,while strong US and Western allied forces remained in Western Europe.In Allied-occupied Germany,the Soviet Union,United States,Britain and France established zones of occupation and a loose framework for four-power control.
The 1945 Allied conference in San Francisco established the multi-national United Nations(UN)for the maintenance of world peace,but the enforcementcapacity of its Security Council was effectively paralyzed by individual members\\u0027ability to use veto power.Accordingly,the UN was essentially converted into an inactive forum for exchanging polemical rhetoric.
二戰後,聯盟國家並沒有就歐洲版圖劃界問題達成一致。對於建立和鞏固戰後和平,各方持有不同的看法。西方國家希望建立一個民主國家的體係,允許各國通過國際組織和平地解決問題。
基於俄羅斯曆史上頻發的侵略和不計其數官兵的陣亡(估計為2,700萬)和二戰期間蘇聯受到嚴重的破壞,蘇聯會更加關注國內事務和加強國防。
西方盟國自身對戰後世界的判斷充滿分歧。羅斯福的目標是在亞洲和歐洲取得軍事勝利,美國在世界經濟領域超過英國,取得首要地位,並且創造一個新的世界和平組織。他的目標較之丘吉爾更具全球視野,因為丘吉爾的目標主要是著眼於保持對地中海地區的安全控製,以作為英蘇之間的緩衝地帶,保證大英帝國的安全和東歐國家的獨立。
以美國人的眼光來看,斯大林似乎是達成他們目標的潛在盟友,而在英國的議程中,斯大林則充滿著威脅。基於蘇聯已經占領東歐大部分的現實,斯大林和兩位西方領導人袒露各自的觀點。羅斯福和丘吉爾的分歧在於對蘇政策。1944年10月,丘吉爾在訪問莫斯科期間,讚同將巴爾幹地區劃分為不同的勢力範圍。在雅爾塔會議中,羅斯福和斯大林單獨締結關於亞洲的協議,拒絕支持丘吉爾關於波蘭問題和重建問題的主張。
有關德國戰後聯盟占領區的問題。在1945年雅爾塔會議中,盟軍簽訂了關於進一步實現戰後平衡的協議,雖然這次會議沒有達成一個一致的關於處置戰後歐洲的意見。1945年4月,丘吉爾和美國新總統哈裏·杜魯門反對關於蘇聯支持盧布林政府的決定。因為盧布林政府處在蘇聯的控製下,是波蘭流亡政府的敵人。
隨著1945年5月盟軍的勝利,蘇聯有效地控製了東歐,而強大的美國和西歐聯軍控製了西歐。在聯軍共同占領的德國,蘇美英法建立了各自的占領區,並建立了鬆散的四國管製機構。
1945年,在舊金山會議上為了維護世界和平,盟軍建立了多邊機構——聯合國,但是聯合國安全理事會的行動能力受到擁有否決權的獨立成員的嚴重削弱。因此,聯合國實質上轉變為一個充滿爭論卻沒有行動能力的平台。
2.Missiles are in the Front of Door—The Cuban Missile Crisis 導彈都到家門口了——古巴導彈危機
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union,Cuba and the United States in October 1962,during the Cold War.In August 1962,after some unsuccessful operations by the US to overthrow the Cuban regime,the Cuban and Soviet governments secretly began to build bases in Cuba for a number of medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic nuclear missiles with the ability to strike most of the continental United States.On October 14,1962,a United States Air Force U-2 plane on a photoreconnaissance mission captured photographic proof of Soviet missile bases under construction in Cuba.
The United States considered attacking Cuba via air and sea,and settled on a military“quarantine”of Cuba.The US announced that it would not permit offensive weapons to be delivered to Cuba and demanded that the Soviets dismantle the missile bases already under construction or completed in Cuba and remove all offensive weapons.On the Soviet side,Premier Nikita Khrushchev wrote in a letter to Kennedy that his quarantine of“navigation in international waters and air space”constituted“an act of aggression propelling humankind into the abyss of a world nuclear-missile war”.
The Soviets publicly balked at the US demands,but in secret back-channel communications initiated a proposal to resolve the crisis.The confrontation ended on October 28,1962,when President John F.Kennedy and United Nations Secretary-General U Thant reached a public and secret agreement with Khrushchev.Publicly,the Soviets would dismantle their offensive weapons in Cuba and return them to the Soviet Union,subject to United Nations verification,in exchange for a US public declaration and agreement never to invade Cuba.Secretly,the US agreed that it would dismantle all US-built Thor and Jupiter lRBMs deployed in Turkey.